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BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



The Lives 



BENJAMIN HARRISON 



LEVI P. MORTON 



BY 



REV. GILBERT L. Harney: 




WITH A HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, AND A 
STATEMENT OF ITS POSITION ON THE GREAT ISSUES 
OF THE PRESENT DAY — THE PLATFORM OF THE 
PARTY— THE LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE OF BEN- 
JAMIN HARRISON -STATISTICS OF ELECTIONS, ETC. 

By EDWIN C. PIERCE. 



ILLUSTRATED. 



PROVIDENCE, R. I.: J. A. & R. A. REID, PUBLISHERS. 

1888. 



ENGRAVERS. 

KILBURN & CROSS, BOSTON, MASS. 

J. P. MURPHY & CO., .... BOSTON, MASS- 



ARTISTS. 

SCHELL & HOGAN, NEW YORK. 

FRANK MYRICK, BOSTON, MASS. 



Copyrighted, iSSS, 
By J. A. & R. A. Reid. 



^ 



% 



PREFACE 



There is no more instructive reading than faithful biogra- 
phies of great men. Every period of the world's history is 
represented by a few lives ; and ever^^ important event of that 
period bears some relation to one or more of those lives ; and 
the spirit of the period is the spirit of those lives. Religion, 
philosophy, science, government, politics, have very little 
attraction for the common reader, or even the majority of 
students, when treated abstractly ; they are dull, dry morsels, 
not easily assimilated by minds not abnormally disposed to- 
ward them. But when the sympathy of the reader, or student, 
is awakened in a person who bears, in study or daily life, a 
close relation to the religion, philosophy, science, government, 
or politics, and the life is traced with interest, he rises from the 
reading of the story instructed and benefited. 

In writing the stories of the lives of Benjamin Harrison 
and Levi P. Morton, constant care has been given to accuracy, 
to harmony and relationship of details with the absorbing 
themes of public interest with which the people associate 
them, and to the story-like features of their lives that 
will make the book interesting to the general reader. 

1st. If accuracy be wanting, the book could be of no value. 
The desire and purpose has been to make no statement as of 
fact that would not bear the criticism even of the men them- 
selves, and in that respect receive their indorsement. 

2d. Choice has fallen upon them for high offices because it 
was believed they were eminently qualified for them. If they 
are, they have come to their present ([ualifications, partly by 



3 PREFACE. 

inheritance and circumstance, but mostly by their course of 
life from birth to manhood. It required long years to make 
them what they are — fitting representatives of mighty issues 
and principles. It is no straining of facts, therefore, but a 
pleasing adherence to truth, to observe that harmony and rela- 
tionship of the details of their lives with these great themes. 

3d. If a character is consistent, the line of life will carry its 
central principles from first to last, and a faithful record of it 
will read like a story-book. This is its charm to all readers ; 
and this is the special charm of the lives of these men. Partic- 
ular care has been taken to discover these lines of principles 
arid trace them, not in a philosophical manner, as if writing a 
treatise on those principles, but in a simple, straight-forward 
narrative. 

Sources of information have been various, but not always re- 
liable. It has been, therefore, no easy task to separate the true 
from the fictitious and sensational. Thanks are due to those 
friends who have kindly assisted in this task, as well as sup- 
plied further points for record. 

If this book shall succeed in honoring these men as they 
deserve to be honored, and in showing them forth as repre- 
sentatives of those principles they are selected to champion, 
and in stirring the ambition of young men to like noble lives, 

its object shall have been accomplished. 

G. L. H. 



CONTENTS. 



Part first. 

LIFE OF GENERAL BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



CHAPTER I. 

Ancestral Line. 

birth of harrison a valuable ancestral line a mem- 
orable event in english history — thomas har- 
rison's principles successful harrisons identi- 
fied with virginia history a brief but sugges- 
tive record a famous homestead — a famous son 

— record of tippecanoe a notable birth in vin- 

cennes a more notable one in north bend, 

Pages 17-34 

CHAPTER II. 

Boyhood of Har.rison. 
a typical american boy typical american people 

THE BOY AT HOME CHARACTERISTICS HIS SURROUND- 
INGS THE FAMILY HIS TUTORS HIS MANNER OF 

STUDY AND APPLICATION THE LOG CABIN UNDER- 
GOES CHANGES — THE CAMPAIGN OF 184O FIRST WHIG 

VICTORY HISTORY OF A MOVEMENT A PEOPLE'S CAM- 
PAIGN SONGS, BANNERS, AND BADGES A GREAT DAY 

AT THE HARRISONS — -DEATH OF THE PRESIDENT — IM- 
PRESSIONS ON THE BOY, . . . - Pages 35-45 



4 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 

The Young Student, 
the boy goes from home the home he left far- 
mer's college keeps up his reputation his 

TEACHERS RETURNS HOME DEATH OF HIS MOTHER 

GOES TO MIAMI UNIVERSITY TWO YOUNG FRIENDS 

JOINS THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH PROFESSORS AND 

CLASSMATES — A SUCCESSFUL TWO YEARS INCLINES 

TOWARD THE LAW ANOTHER COLLEGE IN THE TOWN 

A ROMANTIC EPISODE HE GRADUATES WITH HON- 
ORS, ....... Pages 47-53 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Law Student. 

a characteristic resolution a noted law firm 

first contact with public men a review of the 

political situation his home while reading law 

heart turns towards oxford the romance ends 

PROPITIOUSLY A HAPPY EVENT LIVING WITH THE 

OLD FOLKS AN UNEXPECTED INHERITANCE ANOTHER 

CHARACTERISTIC RESOLUTION, . . PaGES 54-63 

CHAPTER V. 

The Young Lawyer. 

JOURNEY TO LAWRENCEBURG THENCE TO INDIANAPOLIS 

THE CITY AT THAT TIME A HUMBLE COTTAGE 

HE PUTS OUT HIS " SHINGLE " POOR PROMISE OF SUC- 
CESS DAYS SPENT IN ABSTRACT OFFICE OFFICE OF 

JOHN H. REA, CLERK OF DISTRICT COURT OF UNITED 
STATES A PROVIDENTIAL OPPORTUNITY POINT LOOK- 
OUT BURGLARY CASE — PARTNERSHIP WITH WILLIAM 
WALLACE ANOTHER CASE BRINGS HONOR PARTNER- 
SHIP WITH W. P. FISHBACK, . . PaGES 65-73 



CONTENTS. 5 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Young Politician. 

the campaign of 1s56 the new party and its prl.xci- 

ples a successful candidacy a memorable 

debate at rockville the lincoln campaign a 

RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES THE 

SITUATION IN i860 WHIG PRINCIPLES AND FREE SOIL 

ISSUES THE SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN THE REPORTER 

IN OFFICE THE GUNS OF SUMTER BOUND AT HOME 

— A PATRIOT, Pages 74-S6 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Patriot Soldier. 

"three hundred thousand more" THE EFFECT ON THE 

YOUNG PATRIOT A VOLUNTEER RECRUITING AND EN- 
LISTING SERVICE COLONEL OF THE SEVENTIETH INDI- 
ANA KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE FIRST BRIGADE OF 

THE THIRD DIVISION OF THE TWENTIETH ARMY CORPS 

THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN THE BATTLE OF RESACA 

"come ON, boys!" THE BATTLE OF PEACH TREE 

creek a letter from general hooker to the 

secretary of war its result a promotion a 

partisan insult at home thirty days leave of 

absence — reelection sherman at savannah 

an old-fashioned battle at narrowsburg victory 

joins sherman the general returns home, 

Pages 87-109 

CHAPTER VIII. 
A Lawyer of Experience. 

TAKES UP ROUTINE OF OFFICE OF REPORTER A VIEW OF 

THE SITUATION GENERAL HARRISON RESUMES PRAC- 



6 CONTENTS. 

TICE OF LAW SOME NOTED CASES THE CHARACTER 

OF THE MAN -r- THE CITIZEN AND CHRISTIAN CONFI- 
DENCE OF ASSOCIATES FAMILY MR. FISHBACK LEAVES 

THE FIRM "PORTER, HARRISON & HINES" "HAR- 
RISON & HINES" "HARRISON, HINES & MILLEr" 

THE "clem" CASE, . . . PaGESIII-122 

CHAPTER IX. 
Victory in Defeat. 

THE campaign OF 1S76 THE NATIONAL CANDIDATES 

BEFORE AND AFTER THE CRISIS OF 1S73 THE CAM- 
PAIGN IN INDIANA THE CORRUPTION FUND THE 

STATE TICKET — A CHANGE A POPULAR DEMAND 

TASK NO OTHER COULD FILL AN ENERGETIC CANVASS 

— INCIDENTS "COME ON, BOYS ! " THE RESULT A 

VICTORY IN DEFEAT ACQUAINTANCE IN THE STATE 

IN DEMAND FOR THE GENERAL CAMPAIGN, PaGES I23-I36 

CHAPTER X. 

Lawyer and Politician. 

a leader of the indiana bar the strike of 1s77 — 

on the side of sympathy the campaign of 1s78 

CONTEST WITH GREENBACKERS MEMBER OF THE 

MISSISSIPPI RIVER COMMISSION AN INDUSTRIAL PARADE 

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1S80 THE UNITED STATES 

SENATE A VIEW OF THE LAWYER, THE POLITICIAN, 

THE MAN, Pages 137-153 

CHAPTER XI. 

Senator and Citizen, 
removal to washington the old home at indian- 
apolis a typical american woman — daughter 



CONTENTS. 7 

AND SON THE NEW HOME AND SOCIETY SIX YEARS 

OF SOCIAL VICTORIES TWO MARRIAGES HARRISON 

IN THE SENATE THE BURLINGAME TREATY THE 

HISTORY OF CHINESE LEGISLATION THE DAKOTA RE- 
PORT AND SPEECHES MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE 

ON FOREIGN RELATIONS THE CONTRACT LABOR BILL 

ALIEN OWNERSHIP OF AMERICAN SOIL A REVIEW 

OF RECORD HISTORY OF THE SECOND CONTEST FOR 

SENATORSHIP HOME AGAIN, . . PaGES 154-174 

CHAPTER XII. 
Citizen and Candidate. 

RESUMES THE PRACTICE OF LAW CASES A VIEW OF THE 

MAN AS A CITIZEN WHOM THE INDIANIANS WANTED 

FOR PRESIDENT WORK OF THE INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL 

OTHER CANDIDATES HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT 

THE GREAT CONVENTION ITS HISTORY THE NOM- 
INATION GENERAL SATISFACTION AMONG DELEGATES 

ENTHUSIASM THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY ENTHUSI- 
ASM AT HOME — "COME ON, BOYS ! " PaGES I75-2OI 

CHAPTER Xni. 
A Characteristic Speech. 

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY A YOUNG PARTY A " BOOK OF MAR- 
TYRS " CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY IN 1 86 1 WAR, 

FINANCE, diplomacy; GRANT, CHACE, SEWARD 

achievements of the republican party — work yet 
to be done equality in all the states protec- 
tion to american industries and american labor, 

Pages 202-2 is 



8 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Record in Speeches, 
the principle of control by the majority the corner- 
stone of american government — democratic slan- 
ders tariff utterances — a cruel page in our 

history principle of the dependent pension bill 

the admission of dakota to the union discour- 
aged republicans in south carolina —tenure-of- 
office act, and the democratic star chamber — 

civil service commission sea-coast defense 

places for the surplus a plea for the union of 

temperance forces home rule in ireland why 

a change of administration is desirable, 

Pages 216-237 



Part Second. 

THE LIFE OF LEVI PARSONS MORTON. 



CHAPTER I. 

Ancestry. 

A passenger on the SHIP ANN A SETTLER IN MIDDLE- 

BORO', MASSACHUSETTS LATER GENERATIONS A BIRTH 

IN MAINE — REMOVAL TO VERMONT SCHOOL AT MID- 

DLEBURY, VERMONT STUDIES FOR THE MINISTRY 

REMOVAL TO SHOREHAM ANOTHER FAMILY OF 

MASSACHUSETTS REMOVAL TO ADDISON COUNTY, VER- 
MONT THE FIRST AMERICAN MISSIONARY TO THE 

HOLY LAND MARRIAGE THE FOURTH CHILD HIS 

NAME, Pages 241-247 



CONTENTS. 9 

CHAPTER II. 

The Boyhood of Morton. 

THE preacher's SALARY A FAMILY OF EIGHT HO\V TO 

EDUCATE THE CHILDREN THE COMMON SCHOOL AT 

SHOREHAM THE INFLUENCE OF HOME COUNTRY 

STORE IN ENFIELD A TWO YEARS' PRACTICAL SCHOOL- 
ING — APTITUDE FOR BUSINESS HABITS MIND 

ANOTHER COUNTRY STORE A MARK OF EMPLOYER'S 

CONFIDENCE — BRANCH STORE IN HANOVER DART- 
MOUTH COLLEGE FOUNDATION FOR FUTURE SUCCESS 

FIRST VOTE AND POLITICAL ^TE^VS ANOTHER AD- 
VANCE IN 1849, .... Pages 248-254 

CHAPTER III. 
Business and Financial Record. 

" BEEBE & company" JOINED BY MR. ^MORGAN — yiU. 

morton a resident partner in new york death 

of his father "morton & grinnell," first 

marriage a financial failure a new firm — 

an honorable deed — mr. bliss enters the firm 

"morton, rose & company," london death of 

his wife years of bravery under affliction 

another happy marriage "halifax award " — 

story of the resumption of specie payment, 

Pag^s 255-269 

CHAPTER IV. 

Congressional Experience. 

A SURPRISE TO MR. MORTON NOMINATED FOR CONGRESS 

A REDUCTION OF DEMOCRATIC VOTES NOMINATED 

AGAIN AN OVERWHELMING MAJORITY A PROMINENT 

POSITION IN CONGRESS SOME BILLS HE INTRODUCED 



lo CONTENTS. 

SPEECH ON THE UNLIMITED SILVER COINAGE BILL 

SPEECH ON THE BILL FOR EXCHANGE OF TRADE 

DOLLARS WITH LEGAL-TENDER DOLLARS SPEECH ON 

APPROPRIATION FOR INTERNATIONAL FISHERY EXHIBI- 
TION CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MAN IN HIS SPEECHES 

A SOCIAL SUCCESS, . . . PaGES 27I-287 

CHAPTER V. 

Minister to France. 

the campaign of 1880 mr. morton declines the 

offer of vice-presidency declines the secre- 
TARYSHIP OF THE NAVY ACCEPTS THE OFFER OF 

MINISTER TO FRANCE WELL FITTED FOR THE POST 

REMOVAL OF AMERICAN LEGATION OFFICE A POLIT- 
ICAL GATHERING PLACE THE MORTON ENTERTAIN- 
MENTS IN FRANCE MRS. MORTON's SOCIAL TACT AND 

SKILL THE DISABILITY REMOVED FROM AMERICAN 

CORPORATIONS THE AMERICAN HOG A SERIES OF 

IMPORTANT ACTS TARIFF ON FRENCH ART BIRTH- 
PLACE OF LAFAYETTE MINISTER MORTON'S SPEECH 

PRESENTATION AND RECEPTION OF BARTHOLDl's STA- 
TUE OF " LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WORLD '* 

TWO SPEECHES, ..... PaGES 288-309 

CHAPTER VI. 

Brilliant Closing of Ministry to France. 

ELECTION OF 1S84 MR. MORTON PREPARES TO RESIGN ; 

INAUGURATION OF ORIGINAL MODEL OF "LIBERTY EN- i 
LIGHTENING THE WORLD" AN EARLY BANQUET i 

SCENE ON THE PLACE DES ETATS-UNIS PRESENTA-'l 

I 

TION SPEECH BY MR. MORTON RECEPTION BY M. 

BRISSON SPEECHES BY M. BOUE, M. DE LESSEPS, AND 



CONTENTS. 1 1 

SENATOR LAFAYETTE INVITATION TO A FAREWELL 

BANQUET THE TOASTS TESTIMONIES OF APPRECIA- 
TION FROM FRENCH AND AMERICANS A RESPONSE BY 

MR. MORTON REPORTS FROM PARIS AND LONDON 

PAPERS A PERSONAL TESTIMONY BY PRESIDENT 

GREVY, .... . . Pages 311-327 

CHAPTER VII. 

Home and Charities, 
no. 85 fifth avenue — " fair lawn " " ellerslie " 

DOMESTIC CHARACTER AND TASTES FAITHFUL AND 

ACCOMPLISHED WIFE AND DAUGHTERS A MAN OF 

BENEVOLENCE " ONE QUARTER OF THE CARGO OF 

THE CONSTELLATION " DETERMINATION IF NOT AC- 
CEPTED $50,000 FOR RELIEB- OF WORKINGMEN DURING 

ROCKAWAY BEACH IMPROVEMENT TROUBLES TESTI- 
MONY OF GRATEFUL EMPLOYES A GIFT TO DART- 
MOUTH COLLEGE — OLEOMARGERINE LAWS — A RECORD 
WORTHY OF HONOR, .... PaGES 328-335 



PART THIRD. 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, ITS RECORD AND 
ITS PRESENT POSITION. 

CHAPTER I. 
Its Glorious Achievements. 

REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE POLITICAL BREAK- 
UP FORMATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ELEC- 
TION OF 1856 FREEDOM OR SLAVERY IN THE TERRI- 



12 CONTENTS. 

TORIES LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS DEBATE ELECTION 

OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN SECESSION WAR FOR THE 

UNION UNPATRIOTIC ATTITUDE OF THE DEMOCRATIC 

PARTY THE REPUBLICAN PARTY THE DEFENDER OF 

NATIONALITY EMANCIPATION ENFRANCHISEMENT OF 

THE COLORED RACE, . . . PaGES 339-35 1 

CHAPTER II. 
The Tariff. 

REVIEW OF THE TARIFF CONTROVERSY THE QUESTION 

STATED BY MR. BLAINE INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF TARIFF 

REDUCTIONS TARIFF OF 1857 PROTECTION AND FREE [ 

TRADE AS A POLITICAL ISSUE IN THE UNITED STATES — 

TARIFF OF 18S3 PRESIDENT CLE^'ELAND's MESSAGE 

THE RAW MATERIALS QLIESTION THE DOCTRINE OF 

PROTECTION, ..... Pages 352-371 

CHAPTER III. 

The Mills Bill, and the Surplus and Whiskey 
Tax Questions. 

ascendency of the free trade democrats the mills 

bill its passage in the house of representatives 

the wool question threatened prostration 

of industries unwise policy of the cotton inter- 
est minnesota and the tariff the mills bill 

not a measure for the reduction of the surplus 

sugar tariff trusts the republican plan for 

reducing the surplus the whiskey tax, 

Pages 372-357 



CONTENTS. 13 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Labor Question. 

labor qltestion related to politics speech of s. b. 

elkins the republican party the labor party of 

THE COUNTRY THE HOMESTEAD ACT PROTECTION 

FAIR ELECTIONS AND NATIONAL AID TO EDUCATION 
ESSENTIAL LABOR MEASURES, . PaGES 389-399 

CHAPTER V. 
Free and Fair Elections. 

THE SUPPRESSION OF SUFFRAGE IN THE SOUTH GROVER 

CLEVELAND NOT FAIRLY ELECTED MR. BAYARD's 

PROPHECY IMPARTIAL TESTIMONY AS TO DEMOCRATIC 

FRAUD THE SILENT SOUTH REPUBLICANS PLEDGED 

TO RESTORE THE BALLOT TO THE COLORED RACE MR. 

BLAINE's AUGUSTA SPEECH A FREE BALLOT THE 

GROUND OF REPUBLICAN UNITY THE SOUTH DAKOTA 

QUESTION, Pages 400-41 1 

CHAPTER VI. 

Pensions. 

dependent pension bill of 1887 veto of president 

cleveland dependent pension bill of 1888 

mr. cleveland and the democrats unwilling to 
do justice to the soldiers of the union wash- 
ington and cleveland in contrast vetoes of 

SPECIAL PENSION BILLS, . . . PaGES 412-417 

CHAPTER VII. 

Civil Service Reform, 
a delusion and a sham under president cleveland's 
administration the president's promises the 

president's PERFORMANCE, . . PaGES 418-435 



14 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The Fisheries Question. 

the honor of the republic involved in the protec- 
TION OF THE RIGHTS OF ITS CITIZENS NATIONAL 

VALUE OF THE FISHING INTEREST TREATY OF 1818 

CANADA COVETS OUR MARKET CANADIAN OUT- 
RAGES TREATY OF 1 854 TREATY OF WASHINGTON 

THE FISHERIES AWARD MORE OUTRAGES THE 

DISGRACEFUL SURRENDER OF CLEVELAND AND BAYARD 
TO ENGLAND, PaGES 436-45 1 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Temperance Question. 

ONE GREAT ISSUE AT A TIME PROHIBITION NOT THE ISSUE 

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY THE TRUE REFORM PARTY 

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY HOSTILE TO TEMPERANCE 
MEASURES THE PROHIBITION PARTY A HINDRANCE TO 

REFORM, Pages 452-459 

CHAPTER X. 

The Republican Platform for 1888, . . 460-468 

CHAPTER XL 
General Harrison's Letter of Acceptance, . 469-497 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Birthplace of General Harrison at North Bend, Ohio, . 31 

Residence of Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, Ind., . 46 
House in which General and Mrs. Harrison Commenced 

House-keeping, . . . . . . . . • '77 

The White House, or Executive .Mansion, Washington, 

D. C, 211 

Scene in the Chicago Convention. ..... 33S 

Log Cabin and Scene among the Pioneers, . Title Page 

PORTRAITS. 

Benjamin Harrison, . . . . . . Frontispiece. 

President William Henry Harrison, ..... 16 

Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, 64 

Abr.aham Lincoln, . . . . . . . . .110 

(The First Republican President.) 

Russell B. Harrison, 131 

(Son of General Benjamin Harrison.) 
Ulysses S. Grant, . . ... .... 147 

(The Second Republican President.) 

Rutherford B. Hayes, ........ 195 

(The Third Republican President.) 

Levi Parsons Morton, 240 

Mrs. Levi P. Morton, . .270 

James A. Garfield, 310 

(The Fourth Republican President.) 

Chester A. Arthur, 388 

(The Fifth Republican President.) 




WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 

NINTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Part First. 

THE LIFE OF BENJAMIN HARRISON 



Chapter I. 



ANCESTRAL LINE. 

BIRTH OF HARRISON — A VALUABLE ANCESTRAL LINE- — A MEMORABLE 
EVENT IN ENGLISH HISTORY — THOMAS HARRISON'S PRINCIPLES 
SUCCESSFUL — HARRISONS IDENTIFIED WITH VIRGINIA HISTORY — 

A BRIEF BUT SUGGESTIVE RECORD A FAMOUS HOMESTEAD A 

FAMOUS SON RECORD OF TIPPECANOE A NOTABLE BIRTH IN 

VINCENNES A MORE NOTABLE ONE IN NORTH BEND. 

Benjamin Harrison was born August 20, 1833, at North 
Bend, Ohio. 

A truly great man does not depend for honor upon prestige 
or ancestry. He wins his own fame, and the record of his 
personal life is his glory among his fellows. This is true of 
this man. If honor and praise were all that is to be sought 
for him, the simple recital of the story of his life from the 
cradle to the prime of his manhood would be sufficient. No 
ambition can be purer in quality and more honorable in itself, 
than that of the man who, possessing all the requirements for 



1 8 THE LIFE OF 

fame without merit or noble eftbrt, seeks to rise on personal 
merit, or not to rise at all. 

This ambition has marked the life of Benjamin Harrison. 
While not despising those ancestors of renown, and pleased 
that blood so noble flows in his own veins, he has sought, 
with something of anxiety, to win what laurels he might win, 
solely by his own merits. If good blood is of any value, let it 
be manifested in the deeds of the man, not in the heralding 
of the circumstance. 

But a record of lineage is sometimes valuable. First, it is a 
revelation, in some degree, of the man's inherited possibilities ; 
and while this is an inquiry the public, with proper motive, 
has a right to make, it allows the man the additional triumph 
of exhibiting in his life the prophesy of blood fulfilled. Second, 
it allows the tracing of those influences — family traits and in- 
clinations and ways of thinking — that helped to make the boy 
what he was, and the man what he is. No biography can be 
complete, therefore, without some such record. 

One of the first Harrisons of whom there is any authorized 
public account, and from whom General Harrison descended, 
was a martyr to the cause of human liberty. Major-General 
Thomas Harrison was one of Cromwell's generals. He con- 
veyed the king, Charles I., from Hurst to Windsor Castle; 
from Windsor Castle to Whitehall for trial ; sat as one of his 
judges, and signed his death-warrant. 

It is of some interest to note the character of that Harrison, 
as it was manifested in his manner of performing those tragic 
duties. Charles had been warned that his escort's instructions 
were to assassinate him on the way ; but when he saw the sol- 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 19 

dierly bearing of the latter, he frankly confessed his fear, aroused 
by the warning, and that it had now been somewhat quieted. 
Harrison informed his majesty that " he needed not to enter- 
tain any such imagination or apprehension ; that tlie parlia- 
ment had too much honor and justice to cherish so foul an 
intention ; and whatever it resolved to do would be public, and 
in a way of justice to which the world should be witness, and 
would never endure a thought of secret violence." 

When Charles II. was restored to the throne, of course those 
most active in the revolution fell under his wrath. The inim- 
itable Samuel Pepys made the following statements in his diary 
of October 13, 1660: 

"I went out to Charing Cross to see Major-General Har- 
rison hanged, drawn and quartered ; which was done there, he 
looking as cheerful as any man could do in that condition. 

. . It is said that he said that he was sure to come shortly 
at the right hand of Christ, to judge them that now had judged 
him ; and that his wife do expect his coming again." 

Had the cause of Cromwell been successful, even English 
writers would not have considered General Harrison's offense a 
crime, nor even an offense at all. But that cause, though un- 
successful as to its immediate aims, was not a failure. The 
principles for which Thomas Harrison fought and died flourish 
to-day both there and here, while with the death of Charles I. 
died from the hearts of Englishmen his doctrines ; for though 
the son of Charles, as well as subsequent sovereigns of England, 
may have presumptuously recognized those doctrines in petty 
ways, yet in policy they have recognized the changed feeling 



20 THE LIFE OF 

of the English Nation. By that revohition ^vas our revohition 
made possible. 

Men of the spirit of the Harrisons are intolerant of intoler- 
ance. For this reason, even before the bloody times of the Eng- 
lish revolution, some of them emigrated to tl.e freer American 
Colonies. Thev came to Virginia ; and from that day to this 
the Harrisons have been identified with the soil and blood of 
that great State. And there they fostered the princij^les of 
human freedom. 

In the northwest of England, through the county of Lan- 
caster into the Irish Sea, flows the River Ribble. Here, along 
the banks of this stream, according to private records, was the 
English home of the Harrisons. From this region Benjamin 
Harrison, cousin to the martyr, emigrated to the shores of 
America, in 1635 — twenty-five years before the execution of 
his illustrious relative. 

That Benjamin Harrison — first of the name and family in 
this country — settled in Surry Coimty, Virginia, on Wam- 
iskioke Creek, just across the James from Jamestown, and 
only twenty-eight years after the settlement of that colony. 
Either here, or in England just before the emigration, a son 
was born to him, who was also named Benjamin. 

This son grew up on his father's farm in Surry ; and when 
he was of age he married Hannah Churchill, of the renowned 
family of Churchills in England, to which belonged the Duke 
of Marlborough. The happy couple lived at Huntingdon, 
Surry County, and there died ; and in the churchyard which 
he himself gave to Southwark Parish, near Huntingdon, the 
tombstone of this Benjamin Harrison may be seen to-day. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 21 

To Benjamin and Hannah Churchill Harrison was born a 
son, whom they also named Benjamin — the third of the name 
in America. This son married a daughter of Lewis Burwell, 
of Gloucester County, Virginia. He settled at Berkeley, on 
the north bank of the James River, in Charles City County, at 
a point about twenty-fiv^e miles above the site of Jamestown, 
and twenty-five miles below Richmond. Here he built a 
typical mansion of those times, which became known from 
that day as the homestead of the Harrisons. 

The fourth Benjamin Harrison was a son of this gentleman. 
He married a daughter of Robert Carter, of Carotoman, in the 
northern neck of Virginia. From this time on the name of 
Harrison is included in the Carter family list — the list of one 
of the most noted families of the Old Dominion, and one that 
has added much to her honor. 

This gentleman lived at the old homestead built b}' his 
father, at Berkeley. One day, during a heavy thunder-storm, 
he was standing with two of his daughters in the hall of the 
old mansion, when a stroke of lightning ended all their lives. 
He left, besides his widow, several sons, two of whom pre- 
served the honor of the old family name in public capacity. 
His son Charles was a general of artiller) during the Revolu- 
tionary War, and did efficient service in the cause of inde- 
pendence. Benjamin, the brother of Charles, achieved 
greater fame, however, and became the historic Harrison of 
the Revolution. 

Thus, Benjamin Harrison, of the American Revolution, 
was descended in a direct line from Benjamin Harrison, 
cousin of Major-General Thomas Harrison, of tiie English 



12 THE LIFE OF 

Revolution. The simplest record that can be made of his life 
is enough to give him high rank among America's most famous 
heroes. He was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, 
and one of its renowned leaders ; a member of the first Colo- 
nial Congress ; the reporter of the Resolution of Independence ; 
a signer of the Declaration of Independence ; president of the 
Virginia House of Burgesses from 1777 to 1781 ; thrice elected 
governor of Virginia ; a member of the convention that ratified 
the Constitution of the United States ; and father of William 
Henry Harrison. 

This Benjamin Harrison married a Miss Bassett, who was a 
sister of the wife of Peyton Randolph. Before he was tv/enty- 
one, he was sent to the House of Bui-gesses. Here he was so 
outspoken, and withal so sternly true in his patriotism, and so 
talented, that, spite of his youth, he was made speaker of the 
House. Afterwards he was sent to the " rebel Congress," and 
there he so distinguished himself that he barely escaped the 
honor of being made president of the Congress. The follow- 
ing story is told of the circumstance : 

When his brother-in-lav/, Peyton Randolph, who was 
president of the Congress, died, Ben Harrison was imme- 
diately thought of as his successor ; and would have been 
elected, had he not withdrawn in favor of John Hancock, of 
Massachusetts, in the interest of harmony between the Northern 
and Southern colonies. He himself secured the unanimous 
election of Hancock, who, on account of British proscription 
for his faithfjulness to the colonial cause, rather feared to 
assume so lofty and dangerous a post. But Ben Harrison — 
almost a giant in physical proportions and strength — lifted the 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 23 

hesitating president-elect from the floor, carried him to the 
official chair, and placed him in it, giving utterance to these 
characteristic words, which showed both the temper of the 
Congress and the rugged and unfaltering nature of Harrison's 
devotion to his country : 

" We will show Mother Britain how little we care for her 
by making a Massachusetts man our president, whom she has 
excluded from pardon by public proclamation." 

Harrison was chairman of the Committee of the Whole that 
considered the Declaration of Independence, and on the loth 
of June, 1776, he reported the resolution for Independence to 
the Congress. On the 4th of July he voted for it ; and one 
month afterwards it received his signature, between those of 
Thomas Jefferson and Lewis Morris. While that noble host 
of patriots was engaged in that act which meant liberty or 
death to them, and perhaps to all who were dear to them, not 
the least confident of the success of the liberty side was " Bluff 
Ben Harrison." He turned to Elbridge Gerry, and in a jovial 
taunt, that expressed his utter fearlessness of any chance of 
defeat, he said: " Gerry, when we shall be hung for high 
treason, I shall die quicker, because I am heavier." 

When he resigned his seat in Congress, in i777' ^^ "*^^^ 
again elected to the House of Burgesses in Virginia, and served 
there as speaker until near 17S2. His subsequent career is 
already given ; but in 1791, after he had been elected governor 
of Virginia the third time, he died before the inauguration 
took place. 

William Henry Harrison was born at Berkeley, Charles City 
County, Virginia, February i^, 1773, just one year before the 



24 THE LIFE OF 

first meeting of the Continental Congress. He was therefore 
three years and a half old when his father signed the Declara- 
tion of Independence. He grew up on the plantation at 
Berkeley. He had the best instruction a good mother and com- 
petent tutors could give him until he entered college. But 
meanwhile he was receiving a training in a different sort of 
school. The War of the Revolution raged all around him, if it 
did not at first come within range of his vision. In 1775 Nor- 
folk was burned, and from that time the patriots who lived at 
Berkeley and in the vicinity, had only the themes of patriotism 
on their tongues. In January, 1781, the traitor, Benedict 
Arnold, landed with his marauding forces at Westover, but a 
short distance from Berkeley. Then British and Hessians con- 
tinued to arrive, a fleet was in the James, and the forces of 
Cornwallis began to march from Carolina up toward York- 
town, to the northeast of Berkeley. But it was not long until 
the danger to the plantations was over, and Cornwallis had sur- 
rendered to Washington. Then, in 1 783, the war was declared 
at an end. 

The father of William Henry Harrison, while not rich, 
yet possessed enough means by which to manifest great liber- 
ality. But the Berkeley homestead could not, in money, be 
valued at half what it is to-day — for it yet stands on the bank 
of the James, a typical old Virginia home. When William 
Henry had been sometime in his " teens," he was permitted to 
enter Hampton-Sidney College, for which, by application 
under his tutors, he was thoroughly prepared. 

From the time of the peace of 17S3, hostilities were carried 
on by the Indians in the Northwest Territory, who were urged 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 25 

on by British agents and traders. Tliere were yet Britisli 
posts within the United States, and these exercised great 
influence upon the red men. Matters grew worse as the years 
went on. It is said that from 1783 to 1791 fifteen hundred 
men, women, and children were killed or captured by the 
Indians. 

Washington, from the first of his administration, strove to 
put an end to these hostilities, and to protect the frontier. It 
was the influence of these depredations, and of the spirit of 
Washington, his father's friend, in endeavoring to marshal! 
forces for the defense of the frontier, and of the hostility still 
manifested by British power through the Indians, that led 
William Henry HaiTison to give up his studies for the medical 
profession, which he had been pursuing, and determine to 
enter the army. It was, in the minds of most of his friends, a 
most extraordinary and hazardous decision. He had always 
been a " book-worm." His appearance was effeminate. He 
was mild in manner, and unobtrusive. The resolution was 
taken about the time of his father's death, and the great 
banker, Robert Morris, was his guardian — for he was but 
eighteen. Mr. Morris was so opposed to the plan that he 
consulted Washington about it. But Washington approved, 
and the result was that, in April, 1791, William Henry 
Harrison received a commission as ensign in the First Regi- 
ment of the United States Artillery, which was then stationed 
at Fort Washington, near the present site of Cincinnati. 

The event proved Washington's estimate of the lad to be 
correct. His garrison life was a good military discipline for 
young Harrison, and he soon so won the confidence of his 



26 THE LIFE OF 

superior officers, that he was intrusted with dangerous and 
important duties. Then came the disastrous defeat of the 
army of St. Clair, the commander-in-chief. More than five 
hundred officers and privates perished, and the rest fled to Fort 
Washington, arriving one by one at the fort. 

"Mad Anthony" Wayne superseded St. Clair in command, 
and being a man of great shrewdness, and having the young 
ensign under his vigilant eye, it was not long until he 
demanded his promotion. So, in 1792, Harrison became a 
lieutenant. He had been present at the council with the 
chiefs of the Six Nations, which Wayne held at Fort Wash- 
ington, in March, of that year; he had escorted a train of 
pack horses to Fort Hamilton, thirty miles up the Miami, 
through a most dangerous wilderness ; he had closely studied 
the training and instruction under which General Wayne had 
been placing the troops since he had assumed command ; he 
had been a close observer of the whole method of Indian war- 
fare, and of the Indian questions which then agitated the 
country — the relation of the British to them, and so on — and 
of all this General Wayne was aware ; and hence the promo- 
tion of the youth. 

Young Harrison went, on December 23, 1794? with the 
detachment sent to occupy the ground of St. Clair's defeat ; 
and assisted in burying the bones of the slain, in recovering 
the cannon, and in building Fort Recovery. In the thanks 
officially given for that important work he was mentioned by 
name. 

He took part in the great battle of the Miami, fought 
August 20, 1794, in which the Indians were routed and the 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 27 

British influence over them for awhile broken. He was at 
this time both lieutenant and aide-de-camp. One of the 
results of this victory was the Treaty of Greenville, January r, 
1705, by which the Indians I'eleased much of the Northwest 
Territory forever. Another result was that young Lieutenant 
Harrison was promoted to a captaincy, and placed in command 
of Fort Washington. With this trust were also given others 
of great importance. 

During the year 1795, while in command at the fort, Captain 
Harrison met and married Miss Anna Tuthill Symmes, daugh- 
ter of John Cleves Symmes. Her father had been one of the 
prominent patriots of the Revolution. He had moved from his 
birthplace, Riverhead, Long Island, to Flat Brook, New Jersey, 
in 1770, was made a colonel of a regiment in i775' ^^^ ^'^' 
good service until the close of the war. He had been lieuten- 
ant-governor of New Jersey ; six years a member of the coun- 
cil ; associate judge of the Supreme Court of New Jersey ; a 
member of Congress, and one of the supreme judges of the 
"territory northwest of the Ohio." In 17S7 he bought of 
Congress 1,000,000 acres of land between the two Miamis, 
which became known on the maps as "Symmes' Purchase." 
He founded the town of North Bend, Ohio ; and it was while 
on a visit to that place, fifteen miles from Fort Washington, 
that William Henry Harrison first met the judge's daughter. 
Mr. Symmes gave his consent to the marriage, but withdrew 
it on hearing slanderous reports against young Captain Har- 
rison. But he managed to be from home on the day for 
which the wedding was set — November 29th — as if in igno- 
rance of the event, and on returning home was not hard to 
pacify. 



28 THE LIFE OF 

In 1798 the young captain resigned his place in the army, 
and accepted the position of secretary of the Northwest Ter- 
ritory, under Governor St. Clair. In 1799, the territorial 
legislature elected him a delegate to Congress. In May, iSoo, 
the Territory of Indiana was created by act of Congress, and 
Mr. Harrison was appointed its first governor. 

He had been in Congress when the separation of wliat is 
now the State of Ohio had been made from the Northwest 
Territory, and all that remained had been christened the 
Territory of Indiana. It included all the land west of the 
western boimdary of Ohio, south of Lake Superior, north of 
the Ohio River, and east of the forthest western limits of 
Louisiana. Mr. Harrison's commission was autocratic. "He 
was Indian commissioner, land commissioner, sole legislator, 
and law-giver." He was commander of the militia. He 
appointed all civil officers. He was to divide the lands into 
counties and townships. He sat in judgment upon land grant 
titles, and his decision was final. He was general Indian 
agent, made all treaties and negotiated all payments in connec- 
tions therewith. If there had been any doubt as to his in- 
tegrity, he would not have been appointed. If he had in any 
wise ever failed to conscientiously fill his trusts, he would not 
have been kept in the position. He was strictly honorable in 
all his transactions. 

He held this post until 181 2, being reappointed by Jefierson 
and Madison. He sought to improve the condition of the 
Indians by preventing traffic in intoxicants, introducing inocu- 
lation for small-pox, and by other means. He held many coun- 
cils with them, frequently at the risk of his life. On the 30th 



BENJAINIIN HARRISON. 29 

of September, 1809, he concluded a treaty with several tribes, 
by which 3,000,000 acres of land were sold to the United 
States. 

This treaty was opposed by Tecumseh, a powerful chief, 
and his brother Ellskwatawa, the "prophet." These two 
brothers were Shawnees, ambitious, the uncompromising 
enemies of all white men, and noted, even when young, for 
savage and bloody exploits among other tribes, or among the 
settlements of the white j^eople. They were no doubt flattered 
by British agents, and urged on by promises of help. They 
fancied they could form a confederation that would drive the 
pale faces from the country. The union was to include all the 
tribes of the North, and the Cherokees, Choctaws, Red Stick 
Creeks, and Seminoles, of the South. The treaty of Septem- 
ber was their pretext. They claimed that it was unlawful, on 
the ground that the consent of all the tribes was necessary to a 
sale. 

The governor pursued a conciliatory course. He invited the 
two to a coimcil at Vincennes, the seat of his territorial govern- 
ment, requesting them to bring not more than thirty others with 
them. They came August 12, 18 10, with 400 armed warriors. 
Two days were spent with no result — they wanted back the 
land. On the 14th Harrison visited the Indian camp with only 
an interpreter, but with no success. The next spring, on his 
threatening to punish them for depredations, they professed 
friendship and granted a council, to which they brought 300 
followers. The presence of 750 militia prevented any out- 
break, and secured renewed pledges. 

The general government had no faith in Tecumseh's prom- 



30 THE LIFE OF 

ises, and advised that he be seized. Harrison had no faith in 
him, but proposed a military station at Tippecanoe, the 
"prophet's town," on the river by that name, where, it was 
reported, the Indians were collecting in great numbers. Har- 
rison's counsel prevailed, and over one thousand regulars and 
volunteers set out with him from Vincennes on vSeptember 26, 
181 1. They rendezvoused sixty miles north, established Fort 
Harrison near where Terre Haute now stands, and leaving a 
garrison there, proceeded on their way October 28th. They 
arrived v/ithin a mile and a half of the village November 6th. 
Here they were met by messengers from the "prophet," de- 
manding a parley. It was granted for the next day, and Har- 
rison, having first led his men to an eminence commanding a 
view of the town a mile away on a hill, went into camp for 
the night. 

The camp was arranged with special caution. Harrison 
knew the treachery of his foes too well to depend upon their 
professions of desire for treaty. Every soldier was commanded 
to keep his accoutrements on him and his arms near by. 
Sentries were posted with most vigilant orders — orders hardly 
necessary, for they knew their lives depended on their watch- 
fulness. And all night the soldiers slept lightly and were 
ready for a moment's warning. 

Shortly before 4 o'clock on the morning of the 7th, Harrison 
was sitting by his camp fire. The sentries were on duty, 
careful for their own lives and those of their comrades. Sud- 
denly, one of them saw the form of a red man in the darkness 
near him in the grass, and fired. The report rang over the 
camp. Harrison sprang from his tent, the soldiers were on 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 




BIRTHPLACE OF GENERAL HARRISON, NORTH BEND, OHIO. 



their feet, their commander was in the lead, and the tight was 
now going on. The roar of musketry, the yells of .savages, 
the groans of wounded and dying, and the voice of the com- 
mander were all mingled together. 

It was difficult, however, to fight a foe who fought in 
irregular ranks, in the dark. Many of the brave men fell, but 
those who remained fought" on until daylight. Then a cavalry 
charge drove the Indians from the field, completely routed. 
Thus ended the famous battle of Tippecanoe, which gained 
for Mr. Harrison that stirring sobriquet. It virtually ended 
the Indian hostility until the breaking out of the war with 
England. Harrison was thanked in the President's message, 
and bv the legislatures of Kentucky and Indiana. 



32 THE LIFE OF 

At the beginning of the War of 1812, Mr. Harrison was 
appointed brigadier-general, and assigned to the command of 
the Northwest frontier. The letter from the Secretary of War 
appointing him, said : " You will exercise your own discretion, 
and act in all cases according to your own judgment." On 
March 2, 1S13, he was commissioned major-general. October 
5th, he fought and won the famous battle of the Thames against 
Colonel Proctor, in Canada, in which Tecumseh, who had led 
his warriors as British allies, was killed, the warriors scattered 
to their tribes, and the Indian power and presumptuous claims 
broken and silenced forever, and in which the British army 
was completely routed. 

Not long after this, the Secretary of War, Armstrong, who 
through jealously had hindered Harrison's movements in every 
way possible, issued an order to one of the inferior officers of 
the western army, ignoring the commander entirely. Mr. 
Harrison could do nothing but resign, and Armstrong, in the 
absence of President Madison, accepted the resignation. Har- 
rison then went back to his home at North Bend, Ohio. 

In 1816 he was elected to Congress from the Cincinnati dis- 
trict, and was in Congress three years. In 1S19, he was elected 
to the Ohio State Senate, and remained there two years. He 
was United States Senator from 1^24 to 1828. Then he was 
appointed minister plenipotentiary to Colombia, under John 
Quincy Adams, where he remained until recalled by Jackson, 
and he then returned to his old home at North Bend. He 
soon after became clerk of the court of common pleas of his 
county, and filled that position twelve years. In 1836, he was 
candidate for President of the United States, receiving seventy- 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 33 

three electoral votes. In 1S40, he was again the Whig candi- 
date, and received 234 electoral votes against sixty for Martin 
Van Buren. 

But long before that wonderful campaign, whose memory 
stirs the old Whig blood to enthusiasm yet, the birth of a son, 
and then of a grandson, made possible the carrying forward of 
the stern and true Harrison principles and patriotism into the 
midst of another generation, to stir it up to enthusiastic and 
patriotic achievements, such as characterized the campaign of 
1840. While William Henry Harrison lived at Vincennes, 
as governor of the Indiana Territory, his son, John Scott Har- 
rison, was born. The house where he was born still stands, 
at Vincennes ; and near it stand the trees under which the 
governor held the famous conference with the Indian chief, 
Tecumseh. In the same house was planned the civil govern- 
ment of Indiana ; and many of her laws and customs to-day 
reflect those first influences. 

John Scott Harrison grew up no less patriotic than his father, 
but with somewhat less inclination toward jDublic life. Never- 
theless, the records place him in the list of those who have 
served their country in a public way. But a more important 
record than that comes before it ; and others, also, full as inter- 
esting. 

John Scott Harrison was first married to Miss Johnson, of 
Kentucky. By this union, there were two daughters and one 
son, William Henry Harrison. The son died ; one daughter 
lives at Ottumwa,Iowa, and the other lives yet at North Bend, 
on the site where stood the home of her grandfather. Soon 
the mother followed her son to her last resting place. 
3 



34 BENJAMIN HARRISON. 

The next marriage was with Miss Ehzabeth Irwin, daughter 
of Captain Archibald Irwin, of Pennsylvania. Her father was 
also a farmer, and owned a large farm near Mercersburg, 
Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Of this marriage were ten 
children, four of whom are now living : A son. Carter Bassett 
Harrison, lives in Murfreesboro', Tennessee ; another son, 
John Scott Plarrison, lives in Kansas City, Missouri ; a 
daughter, Mrs. Anna Morris, lives in Indianapolis ; and the 
remaining child living is Benjamin Harrison. 

While William Henry Harrison was at Colombia, his son, 
John Scott, was left in charge of the estate at North Bend. 
The house was then but a log cabin, for though quite a large 
tract of land belonged to the estate, it was not as valuable then 
as land farther from the cities and towns in Indiana and Ohio 
is now ; besides, the elder Harrison was so simple in his tastes, 
and such a man of the people, that he would not dream of 
making an effort to place himself socially above them ; nor 
was he, in any sense, rich, though he had had ample oppor- j 
tunities for becoming so, had not his great liberalit}', and sensi- j 
tive conscientiousness in the matter of taking pay for services, 
prevented. Here lived the family of John Scott Harrison j 
for several years, and thus it came about that Benjamin Harri- j 
son was born in his grandfather's house, at North Bend, | 
Ohio. I 



Chapter II. 



BOYHOOD OF HARRISON. 

A TYPICAL A.MERICAN BOY — TYPICAL AMERICAN PEOPLE THE BOY 

AT HOME — CHARACTERISTICS HIS SURROUNDINGS THE FAMILY' 

HIS TUTORS HIS MANNER OF STUDY AND APPLICATION — THE 

LOG CABIN UNDERGOES CHANGES — THE CAMPAIGN OF 184O — FIRST 

WHIG VICTORY — HISTORY OF A MOVEMENT A PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN 

SONGS, BANNERS, AND BADGES A GREAT DAY AT THE HARRI- 
SONS* DEATH OF THE PRESIDENT IMPRESSIONS ON THE BOY. 

Benjamin Hariuson was a typical American boy, and des- 
tined to be a typical American man. This was true, not only 
in respect to his education, but in respect to his inheritance; 
' not only in respect to his inherited way of thinking, but in 
respect to the blood that flowed in his veins. 

He was born and brought up in a region where those of 
such blood were found. The North Ohio Valley was settled, 
to a large extent, by those who came from Kentucky, Virginia, 
and other Southern and Southeastern States. Many of these 
settlers were of the best blood which those regions aftbrded. 
Many of them were young men, unmarried, and having yet to 
make choice of life companions. Others brought wives and 
children from the South ; but these children grew up to look 
!|out for helps meet for themselves. Thus was formed the sub- 
strata of North Ohio Valley society. 

These people brought the conservative customs and ways o( 



36 THE LIFE OF 

thinking th^t had belonged to established society. They were 
American in their ideas, and many of them Whigs. Many of 
them who afterwards became inveterate Democrats were influ- 
enced, not by the fundamental principles of the two parties, but 
by the immediate issues between the new Republican party 
and the Democrats ; for, in the days when they had lived in 
the South, slavery was not a party issue. Its right to exist had 
not, in that manner, been called in question. Then they had 
come from cleared lands and hospitable homes and friends 
and loved ones in the South, to the inhospitable forests of the 
North, to toil in loneliness often, to sufter inconvenience and 
hardship, and live in rough log cabins. They were human, 
and I'emembered fondly all that they had left behind. When 
the new issue was sprung, it seemed as if their old homes and 
dear ones, and institutions dear by association, were menaced. 
They might have trusted the dear old Whig party, had it lived, 
and had it, in its wisdom, concluded to lay its hand, in the 
name of the government, upon that institution ; but this new 
party — what did tired toilers know about its principles, in the 
confusion of the time? They only knew it had attacked what 
they had never thought was wrong, and ^vhat was dear to 
them. They only knew the issue. Had they known it, the 
issue, on the Republican side, was based on principles they ar- 
dently believed in — Whig principles : liberty, the kingship of 
every American ; protection to Americans in home, society, and 
labor. They saw not the inevitable logic of these principles 
which was working out, else they would have followed it — 
would have been willing to sacrifice the dear idol of the South 
for them. In principle they were Whigs ; in issue they were 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 37 

Democrats. Nevertheless, there were many others who saw 
the point, and entered the Republican party, where the Whig 
princi^Dles were safely conserved. The general manner of 
thinking among all these people was the same. 

But there was an immigration from the East : people true as 
steel, but of a different type of mind from the first-comers, not 
coming as they had from the shadow of a great curse, nor 
holding it in sacred remembrance, but with an independence 
and enterprise impossible under conditions of slavery. They 
spread over the valley and plains. Then there were mar- 
riages ; and many a young man from the South found a wife 
from the North and East, as did William Henry Harrison. 

The subsequent generations are typical Americans. With 
the blood of the South, they mingle the independent manhood 
of the North ; with the fine, serious temper of the South, they 
join the irrepressible spirit of the North that will scarcely pause 
in the pursuit to resent even an insult ; with the conservative 
and thoughtful habit of the South, they unite the enterprising 
and habit-breaking manners of the North. The Northern dis- 
position drives them over the face of the land, bends everything 
to their service, gives them the best the earth affords, in goods 
and knowledge : the Southern compels a conscientious pause 
before every undertaking, a serious and sacred consideration of 
every issue involved. And Benjamin Harrison was a boy with 
such blood in him — a typical American boy. 

The first year or two of this American boy was spent at his 
grandfather's house ; for they still lived there after his grand- 
father had returned from South America. But his father had 



38 THE LIFE OF 

been so faithful in caring for the estate, and his grandfather 
was so well pleased, that the latter gave the former a warranty 
deed for quite a large farm about five miles from North Bend ; 
and thither little Benjamin was taken, and there he was 
brought up. 

The house was a square brick house, of the style of the best 
houses of those days. It was somewhat of the style of a Ken 
tucky or Virginia mansion. Its ample rooms and cheerful 
portico, and spacious porch, gave a delightful, home-like echo 
to the tread of childish feet. 

The boy was not sent to school. In the first place, the com 
mon schools were not then the progressive educational systems 
of to-day. In the second place, the Southern custom of having 
governors and governesses in the plantation home was not only 
held in reverence, for its association, but for its wisdom. So 
tutors were employed at the new homestead near North Bend. 

The first of these was Miss Harriet Root, a niece of the Rev. 
Horace Bushnell, of Cincinnati. She w^as employed as gov- 
erness in the family of John Scott Harrison, perhaps even 
before the removal to their own new home in the country. She 
was very young for the position, but was earnest, competent, 
and thorough. The children learned to love her, and her 
interest and devotion to them was not without its effects on 
their after lives. 

Thus the little boy, Benjamin, was fortunate in his first 
teacher — a most important fact to record. He was a chubby 
little fellow, square-shouldered even then, and he had a head 
of almost white hair. He was studious and thoughtful, but 



I 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 39 

fond of play. He was always bright, and advanced rapidly 
from the day he began his A B C's. 

The next teacher was a Mr. Joseph Porter, from Massachu- 
setts, and a graduate of an Eastern college. This gentleman 
also won the hearts of the children, and he remained in the 
family for a long time. After Mr. Porter came Mr. vSkinner, 
a graduate of Marshall College, Pennsylvania. 

But the home-school was not wholly unlike the early com- 
mon schools of the West, as to its methods and appointments. 
Nephews and nieces of Mr. and Mrs. Harrison also came to 
receive instruction ; and it was necessary to have a school- 
room apart from the residence. This was a cabin, with rough 
floor and benches. At playtime the children were full of 
sport, and Ben was often the leader. Then, and at other times, 
he delighted in hunting and fishing. 

This, however, did not make up the boy's life. In those 
days farmers, for many reasons, could not let their children 
be idle, and some of them were compelled to require of them 
more hard toil than their paternal hearts would have led them 
to require had it not been for '•'stern necessity." Ben had his 
share of carrying water and wood, of feeding the horses, cattle, 
hogs, and sheep, and not infrequently, when night came, his 
limbs were tired and sore. But he was always ready, when 
morning came, for whatever duties awaited him. He never 
complained of his lot, nor filled his mind with dreams that 
made his life and its duties distasteful to him. 

So the boy Ben never, in earliest years, had demoralizing 
influences such as are sometimes thrown around children on the 
school-house play-grounds. He had constantly the influences 



40 



THE LIFE OF 



of a pure home, a devoted father and mother, and the associa- 
tion of brothers and sisters. His mother was a faithful and 
devoted Christian woman, and always kept alive the influence 
of religious devotion in the home. Nor was she uninterested 
in general themes, nor unacquainted with the progress her 
children were making in their daily studies. She sought to 
provide good books, and she loved to hear her children- read 
and talk about their studies, as she sat with them before the 
wide fire-place of an evening. From his mother young Har- 
rison learned his reverence for the Christian religion. 

Meanwhile, as the years went on, the log cabin at North 
Bend underwent a change. The logs were hid by planed and 
painted boards, and two wings were added, so that a stranger 
would never have known that it was a log cabin. It stood 
not far from the river, and the yard reached down to the water's 
edge. But it stood on ground too high to be in danger from 
the disastrous floods that sometimes, even yet, sweep down the 
valley, carrying low-ground houses with them. The cabin 
was rude in its construction — half-hewn logs, rough floor, an 
outside wooden chimney, doors swung on wooden hinges, 
loose boards laid across rough joists for a loft (it could not be 
called an " up-stairs," for the " stairway" was a common lad- 
der), and all the accompaniments of such an humble log hut. 
But at the change, the roughness disappeared, and the cabin 
became a house with two stories and more pretentious appear- 
ance. 

Nevertheless, this change did not prevent the glorification 
of the cabin in the approaching great campaign, nor the 
enthusiasm it raised that spread over all the country. And 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 41 

the centre of this enthusiasm was at North Bend ; and those 
in the log cabin, and those who had lived in it, were in the 
midst of perhaps the greatest political excitement that ever 
shook the country during a campaign ; and while men, 
women, and children came about with songs of Harrison — of 
Tippecanoe — and with flags and banners and badges, the boy 
received impressions and a turn of thought that can never be 
effaced or changed. 

It was the first great Whig victory, and it was won purely 
on Whig principles. It was the culmination of the movement 
begun as far back as the close of the war of 181 2 — the deflec- 
tion, as far as political opinion was concerned, from the ranks 
of the so-called united " one party" of its best elements, when 
the fundamental principles of our government were endan- 
gered. True, that growing "movement" had been unfortunate in 
carrying with it through the years, discontented factions, having 
local interests to serve, and clinging to the slender but growing 
stem solely for the policy of defeating the party in power, with 
which, but for local schemes, they were in greater sympathy. 

But that early deflection was of an element that had always 
been true to American principles, and ready to rally for their 
defense. It had now grown to gigantic proportions, in spite 
of incumbrances. It had been christened " National Repub- 
lican" in 1S2S, and "Whig" in 1834. Whatever the political 
schemes of certain political leeches, called "leaders," in 1840, 
it was the people that elected William Henry Harrison, and 
elected him as their ideal leader and representative in protec- 
tion to American liberties. 

There is no parallel to the campaign of 1840. It was pre- 



42 THE LIFE OF 

eminently a people's campaign. It was the beginning of those 
great mass-meetings that have, in a less degree, characterized 
all campaigns since. There never was as much singing ; and 
all the watch-words of the songs and shouts were freighted 
with patriotic meaning. The old log cabin in which the little 
hero, who stood with wondering eyes and breast heaving with 
early patriotic pride and feeling, and looked on the grand 
commotion around him, was born, was made the war-cry. 
The Democrats, strong in their old organization, feeling aris- 
tocratic security, had been foolish enough to ridicule the candi- 
date who lived in a log cabin, and who, instead of having fine, 
aristocratic wines on his board, had cider. 

The campaign was the yell of rage at the insult, and the 
people resolved to hurl a party that had no more sympathy 
with them from power. So it became known throughout the 
Union that the candidate for President on the Whig ticket had 
lived in a log cabin ; and the people, by the campaign and by 
their votes, showed that in American eyes, that was nothing 
against him — that the humblest might, in America, rise by 
effort and merit even to be President of the United States. 
The campaign became known in history as the " Log Cabin 
and Hard Cider Campaign." The banners, badges, and 
medals had always on them a log cabin, and by it a 
keg of cider. Something like "William H. Harrison, the 
People's Choice," or, "We Hold the Constitution and 
Laws Sacred," or, " Union of the Whigs for the Sake of the 
Union," or, " We will Take Him from the Plough," was 
printed on everv one of them, and these mottoes indicate suf- 
ficiently what the people had in mind. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 43 

One of the characteristic songs of the time was entitled 
"When My Old Hat Was New," and the two stanzas here 
given show the real feeling of the people on some points : 

" When my old hat was new, Van Buren was a Fed, 
An enemy to every man who labored for his bread ; 
And if the people of New York have kept their records true, 
He voted 'gainst the poor man's rights, when my old hat was new. 

"When my old hat was new, the friends of liberty 
Knew well the merits of old Tip while fighting at Maumee : 
Come now, huzza for Harrison, just as we used to do 
When first we heard of Proctor's fall, when mv old hat was new." 

The following is the first verse of another song, and it is 
not difficult, as one reads it, to catch something of the honest, 
patriotic thrill of that great campaign : 

" The people are coming from plain and from mountain 

To join the brave band of the honest and free. 
Like the stream which flows down from the leaf-sheltered fountain. 

Grows broad and more broad till it reaches the sea. 
No force can restrain it; no strength can detain it, 

Whate'er may resist, it breaks gallantly through, 
And born by its motion, like a ship on the ocean. 

So speeds in his glory old Tippecanoe ! 
The iron-hearted soldier, the brave-hearted soldier, 

The gallant old soldier of Tippecanoe." 

The following breathes the same spirit : 

" Down in the W^est, the fair river beside, 
That waters North Bend in its beauty and pride, 
And shows in its mirror the summer sky blue, 
O, there dwells the hero of Tippecanoe. 



44 THE LIFE OF 

The honest old farmer of Tippecanoe ! 

The gallant old soldier of Tippecanoe ! 

With an arm that is strong and a heart that is true, 

O, there dwells the hero of Tippecanoe." 

It was no mere enthusiasm for a favorite that was mani- 
fested in these son^s. It was not hard to see that the favorite 
was to the people the representative of principles dear to them ; 
that they considered those principles their salvation ; that, 
therefore, they felt themselves threatened with some disaster, or 
under some heavy yoke which they determined to shake ofl^ 
It was this that gave the sting to the insult of the sneer at the 
log cabin and hard cider. Bourbonism, proud, aristocratic, 
caring nothing for the people if only it could make them its 
servants, had shown the real meaning of state-sovereignty to 
be the lifting up of states into so. many petty aristocracies, and 
the virtual recognition of the clan-system — the class-system — 
in the government of the Nation. When it had destroyed the 
United States Bank because it suggested a national idea, and 
caused the establishment of "wild-cat " state banks, that were 
so many unsecured and unlimited independent inflation-banks ; 
when it reduced the tariff by a method recognizing the same 
petty sovereign desires — as if it were only a "local issue"; 
when it left internal improvements, as well as protection, to the 
states ; and when this Bourbonism would not abate this policy 
of holding up its system of state-supremacy at the expense of 
the welfare of the people in these matters, then the people 
resolved that Bourbonism should rule no longer. This was 
the key-note of the enthusiasm of 1840. 

From that day to this, Ben Harrison has never ceased to be 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 45 

the friend of the people. It is impossible to overestimate the 
influence of such times upon the mind of the boy. 

It was a great day for the Harrison households when the 
news of the victory came to them. It was a greater day when 
the inauguration came ; but that day was marred by one sad 
feature — Grandmother Harrison could not sfo to Washineton 
with her husband, but remained in the cabin, sick. The posi- 
tion of mistress of the Presidential mansion was filled by 
her son's wife, the aunt of the boy Ben, and sister of his 
mother. John Scott and William Harrison had married sisters. 

The new President gathered around him such counsellors as 
Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, and began a policy that 
would have wrought out great things for our government had 
he not been cut oft' in one month from the beginning of his 
administration. The news was brought to North Bend that he 
was sick with a fever ; and then the sad news came that he was 
dead. His body was placed in a vault at Washington, but 
was subsequently removed to North Bend and placed in a tomb 
overlooking the Ohio River. 

Carrying with him the ineft'aceable impressions of the past 
year, the boy went on with his learning ; and when he had 
reached the age of fourteen, he was far in advance of most 
boys of his age, and ready to try new experiences for the sake 
of higher attainments. 



Chapter III. 



THE YOUNG STUDENT. 

THE BOY GOES FROM HOME — THE HOME HE LEFT — FARMER'S COL- 
LEGE — KEEPS UP HIS REPUTATION — HIS TEACHERS — RETURNS 

HOME DEATH OF HIS MOTHER GOES TO MIAMI UNIVERSITY 

TWO YOUNG FRIENDS — JOINS THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — 
PROFESSORS AND CLASSMATES — A SUCCESSFUL TWO YEARS — 
INCLINES TOWARD THE LAW — ANOTHER COLLEGE IN THE TOWN 
A ROMANTIC EPISODE HE GRADUATES WITH HONORS. 

When it was decided that young Harrison must go away to 
school, it was also decided that he must go to a school as near 
home as it was possible to find a good one ; and Farmer's Col- 
lege, at College Hill, Cincinnati, was the school chosen. 

He was perhaps the youngest and the smallest of his class, 
and had it not been for his quiet, grave demeanor, would have 
looked younger than he was. He had a tow head, but a large 
one, on small and frail, but square shoulders. He spent 
his vacations at home, and as far as his habits were concerned, 
they were but little like vacations. He was seldom satisfied 
unless he had a book in his hand. His delight was to lay his 
head in a favorite sister's lap, and while, at his demand, she kept 
rubbing his temples, he would be absorbed in a book. 

He loved to come back to his home. The brick walls, the 
echoing rooms, the porch and ^Dortico, the spacious yard with 
its trees, were all sacred to him, as were also the horses, cattle, 
sheep, and hogs, and the farm. He liked to go barefooted as 
when a child, and to assist his father on the farm in feeding 



48 THE LIFE OF 

the stock at night, or in hauling hay with a chain in the day- 
time. He was domestic in his tastes then, and his love for 
home and its environment has ever continued. 

Farmer's College was not all its name might imply at that 
time, but it was a good school, and the young student found 
himself under excellent instructors. It had been founded by 
Dr. Freeman Carey, brother of Samuel Carey, the well-known 
temperance orator, and had been called Carey's Academy. 
But just before the advent of young Benjamin Harrison to 
College Hill, the institution was changed to the more dignified 
grade and title of a college. One of the professors was the 
celebrated Scotch educator. Dr. R. H. Bishop, and another 
was Dr. John Witherspoon Scott, who had been a professor in 
Miami University and other institutions of learning, and was 
an educator of refinement and rare experience. 

Ben Harrison was a studious boy, and kept up with the 
classes. Among his classmates were several who have &ince 
risen to prominence as lawyers, physicians, journalists, or 
ministers ; and the names of Murat Halstead and O. W. Nixon 
do not detract from the dignity of the list. He kept up his 
reputation, which he had won under his tutors at home, of a 
boy of thorough application and determination to master every 
subject that came before his mind, and to accomplish every 
duty. He studied hard and long at his tasks, if he could not 
perform them easily, not because he considered them as tasks, 
but because of his real interest in them. 

In two years he returned from the college with a better 
education than the majority of people obtain during their whole 
lives. He was now sixteen and ambitious for knowledge and 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 49 

success in life. He began at once to make preparation for 
college in the fall ; but a sad event meanwhile filled him with 
sorrow and beclouded his prospects for awhile and his im- 
mediate interests for them. This was the death of his mother. 
He felt that he had lost his dearest friend. He went about 
sorrowfully for weeks, and when he entered college in the fall, 
the cloud had not left his heart. 

His mother had been a faithful and devoted member of the 
Presbyterian Church, and by her piety had exercised no small 
influence on the minds of all her children ; and his mind, 
through his love for her and his love for her kind of life, was 
not the least susceptible to her influence. She had prayed 
regularly, and this habit, even wdien Ben was a child, had 
caught his wondering attention. Her presence was now missed 
by no one of the household more than by himself. Her death 
seemed for awhile to take from him a support on which his 
life depended. 

In the fall he went to Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio. In 
that day it was a long distance from home, but now it would 
be but comparatively a short ride on the train. Oxford was a 
beautiful town in the Miami Valley, and was the seat of two 
institutions of learning, Miami University and Oxford Female 
College. The Rev. W. C. Anderson was then president of 
the former, and the Rev. John W. Scott, the young student's 
former friend and professor in Farmer's College, was president 
of the latter. 

Doctor Scott had just entered on his duties at Oxford. 
Although the boy was but sixteen when he left College Hill, 
it may be that the fact that Doctor Scott had taken his family 
to Oxford had something to do with turning his steps thither, 

4 



50 THE LIFE OF 

for the doctor had a daughter, Carrie, who was not far from 
young Harrison's age; and during the days at College Hill, a 
warm and earnest friendship had sprung up between the two 
young people. 

In the fall of 1S50, the first year of his life at the university, 
he was converted and joined the Presbyterian Church. He 
was as sincere in the step as was possible for his sincere nature 
to be. All his early life had had a tendency to give him 
a strong, uncompromising conscientiousness. Besides, the 
death of his mother increased in him his strong desire to live 
a Christian life, and to meet her again. He became an earnest 
and faithful worker in the church, though with his retiring 
disposition, inherited largely from his mother, he was not pre- 
sumptuous in his Christian service. 

Here is a trait that is well to be remembered in estimating 
his after life — his Christian conscientiousness, coupled with 
his natural disposition, and all his training. A young man 
of more impulsive temperament might, under extraordinary 
excitement, enter just as earnestly into the Christian life, but 
there would then be a chance of his falling away under great 
temptation. But a nature as steady, serious, and conscientious 
as Harrison's, when once it counts the cost and takes such a 
step, cannot be imagined to turn back. The meaning of this 
is, that he was conscious of the connection of honor, integrity^ 
and every noble virtue with the profession of religion and could 
not make the mistake of joining unmindful of them, and that 
he deliberately accepted their obligation for life. This influ- 
ence and continuation of purpose may be safely counted on in 
pointing out what course he has taken in his subsequent career, 
even if the facts were not known. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 51 

Among his college-mates at Miami were Oliver P. Morton, 
afterwards the renowned war governor of Indiana, W. P. Fish- 
back, a subsequent law partner, the Rev. James Brooks, and 
Professor David Swing. All these bear testimony to his ap- 
plication and proficiency in college. Professor Swing says that 
he was a studious scholar, and early manifested that he would 
succeed in whatever he might undertake. " He there acquired 
the habits of study and mental discipline which have charac- 
terized him through life, enabling him to grapple any subject 
on short notice, to concentrate his intellectual forces, and give 
his mental energies that sort of direct and effective operation 
that indicates the trained and disciplined mind." But his mind 
seemed to take naturally to this discipline. The truth is, that 
his past habits of study, his ambition and his zeal, prepared 
him for it. 

As a student Harrison kept abreast of his class. Like all 
students he excelled in some studies, while his average in 
others was not so good. He liked history, and he took a special 
interest in any study whenever it led him into the considera- 
tion of questions of social life or of government. He liked 
political economy, and was one of the best students in that 
class. He was interested in languages and English literature, 
and, next to the studies before mentioned, he liked them best. 
But he was not a mathematician nor a scientist ; though in 
both these studies he did well. His mind was the mind of a 
lawyer ; and he had already made choice of that profession, 
not for its popularity, nor through the fancy that struck him 
when he came to " choose a profession," but because it suited 
the character of his mind. 

He had also the qualities of oratory ; that is, he was such a 



52 THE LIFE OF 

master of his thoughts that it was not hard to express them, 
and he had such interest in his themes that, even in college, he 
could sometimes rise above his embarrassment and modesty 
and control himself before an audience. This ability mani- 
fested itself in a greater degree in after years. But he was not 
bombastic ; he spoke calmly, thoughtfully, and generally with- 
out demonstration, though appropriate and even forcible 
gestures were not wanting, if in demand for emphasis. He 
chose his words well, and, even in the college literary society 
seldom made a speech that did not excel in diction, though his 
adjectives, as a student, were more numerous than perhaps was 
necessary — a fault in which he did not excel other students. 
His efforts were generally extemporaneous. He had also 
other occasions for using his gift while in college. He was 
resei"ved and modest to a degree that interfered with the devel- 
opment of his gift, but there were occasions on which he could 
not keep still. It is said that once, when a free-trade advo- 
cate had delivered an address in town, and had grossly mis- 
represented some facts, Student Harrison was not hard to per- 
suade to reply to him. He was a protectionist and a Whig ; 
and from his fund of knowledge of the issues he met the argu- 
ments of the man and overthrew them. 

As has been said, there was another college in the town, 
over which, as president, was Carrie Scott's father, his own 
former professor. In attendance at that college were bright 
and intelligent young ladies, and it can be imagined that the 
social features of Oxford were not neglected in those days. 
The modesty of young Harrison did not prevent his full enjoy- 
ment of the social occasions, nor his participation in them. 

One of the brightest and most intelligent of the young lady 
students was Carrie Scott, and it has already been related that 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 53 

her friendship with Ben Harrison began while the latter was 
at Farmer's College. Thus the closer attachment and ultimate 
engagement came about by the most natural train of circum- 
stances. Novelists could find little in the facts for the 
"basis" of a sensational romance, and yet it was romantic. 
But the story writers who make interesting the realities of life 
because they are interesting, could find much in the beautiful 
town, the natural coincidences and circumstances to make a 
charming story and teach beautiful lessons. 

She was every way worthy of him, though her talents were 
not just the same. He cared more for forms and laws ; she 
for art and literature. She was cultivated, having passed her 
young life among the educated and students. Her features, of 
the brunette shade, were firm but pleasing, winning, and beau- 
tiful. She had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. She 
had the faculty of making every one easy in her presence, and 
glad to be near her ; and so the pathway of the rather modest 
young student was not a rough one. And so they were engaged. 

Another two years were spent, and the graduating day in 
1852 came around. There was a great concourse of friends, 
and there were speeches from the graduates, and bouquets 
without number falling in showers around them. Young Har- 
rison's speech was on the subject, " The Poor in England." 
What is unusual with students who choose such subjects for 
graduation display, but what was usual for him in any speeches 
he ever made, he showed that he thoroughly understood his 
subject. He showed also an acquaintance with the subject of 
protection, when he pointed out the remedy for poverty in 
England. He was one of the best in standing and merit in an 
unusually good class, and with the blessings of professors and 
friends resting upon him, he returned home. 



Chapter IV. 



THE LAW STUDENT. 

A CHARACTERISTIC RESOLUTION — A NOTED LAW FIRM — FIRST CON- 
TACT WITH PUBLIC MEN — A REVIEW OF THE POLITICAL SITUA- 
TION — HIS HOME WHILE READING LAW — HEART TURNS TO- 
WARD'OXFORD — THE ROMANCE ENDS PROPITIOUSLY — A HAPPY 
EVENT — LIVING WITH THE OLD FOLKS — AN UNEXPECTED IN- 
HERITANCE — ANOTHER CHARACTERISTIC RESOLUTION. 

When the young man returned home, it was not to indulge 
the boyish sense of security in his home that had characterized 
him up to the time of his leaving at the age of fourteen. His 
old reverence for the place and the scenes had, indeed, never 
left him, and never would. But the shadow of the future was 
now upon him. He was nearly nineteen, and was a graduate, 
apparently ready for life. He had, moreover, completed a 
. contract that is always full of serious meaning, and lets down 
an invisible barrier between the past and present, and turns the 
thoughts with a feeling of inexorable responsibility to the future. 

His mother was not there. His sisters were grown older. 
His grandmother, always dear, had come to live with the 
family ; but still it was a change. The old place did not 
seem as it had in his earlier boyhood. His father had not 
made much headway against financial currents, and the young 
man felt that the time was at hand when he ought to depend no 
longer upon his father. True, he was aware that he had been a 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 55 

help on the farm, even when a small boy, and that he had also 
the I'ight of inheritance and blood relationship to the care, and 
even anxiety, of those at home. But he did not believe 
in inherited honors; and he felt that to claim, or to accept, 
his legal or family rights, under the circumstances, w^ould be 
unmanly ; and he felt that honor must come upon merit. Per- 
haps he had caught the spirit of 1S40, which rated every man 
a king who sought to rise by the merit of labor and character, 
and every man a slave who depended upon family and favorit- 
ism for position and honor. 

In obedience to these feelings, so characteristic of his subse- 
quent life, and no doubt to that other feeling described, that 
looked toward a new home, he determined to go right on and 
make his success in life sure. He had the foundation in a col- 
lege education ; he needed some training and study in the art 
of rearing a special structure. To this end he began at once 
the study of law in the office of Storer & Gwynne ; and his pre- 
ceptor was the head of the firm, the Honorable Belamy Storer. 
This was one of the best law firms in Cincinnati, and here, for 
the first time, young Harrison had the advantage of contact, in 
a business and professional way, with public men. He had 
sat under the teachings of excellent masters, who possessed 
trained and powerful intellects, but he had never dealt with 
them nor counselled with them as in the same profession, as 
in some degree he was called on to do now. A law student 
in a law office is more of an apprentice than a literary student 
in college. 

This was a great help to him. It gave him a practical view 
of his profession, and a practical grasp of his subjects. It gave 



56 THE LIFE OF 

him that confidence in his own ability to master and present a 
subject that has characterized him, and to which his success has 
largely been due. Many a young man has started in life with 
good talents and attainments, but with no courage nor tact 
before men. In practice they lose command of self and talents, 
and their abilities are never known and never called for. 
There is perhaps no profession that enables a man to become 
so thoroughly acquainted with society as it is, and with the 
business and professional methods of controlling it, as that of 
the law. 

Ben Harrison was, physically and mentally, vigorous and 
independent. In school and at home he had shown a tact in 
solving knotty problems, a skill in diving to the depths of his 
subjects. On taking hold of a problem, he had the confidence 
that he could master it. In the law office he learned not only 
to master for himself, but in the presence of others. He could 
not only present the slate with the " sum" worked out, or the 
essay or oration studied and written in his room, but he could 
"work among thinkers and as one of them, and bring out the 
result while he talked with them. 

While in this association, it was very natural that his interest 
should be awakened in politics ; for of all men, lawyers are 
most apt to aspire to become political leaders ; and he could 
not be in the office long without hearing these subjects dis- 
cussed. It is a tribute to his power of mind, his independ- 
ence of judgment, and to his patriotism, that he kept his head 
and heart in the midst of the political confusion and wrangling 
of that day. 

It was now twelve years since the first campaign he could 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 57 

remember — that of his grandfather. Affairs had not gone 
well with the Whigs as a party ; but their original principles 
were taking more and more a firm hold upon the popular 
mind. The first formal declaration of their principles in con- 
vention was in 1844 ' ^"-^^ ^^^^^ ^^'^^ '^^^Y the echo of the preach- 
ing and teaching, and popular demand of 1840. It is not 
necessary, in order for a party to be a party based on clearly 
defined principles, for a few men to come together and announce 
what they believe. When these few men have means of know- 
ing what the people want, having taught them from their own 
honest convictions, or having heard them in some definite 
demand and found themselves in honest sympathy with them, 
then they may construct a platform of the party of the 
-people formally in convention. The campaign of 1840 had 
been definite enough, and the platform of 1844 was its echo. 

" A well-regulated currency; a tarift'for revenue to defray 
the necessar}' expenses of the government, and discriminathig 
with special reference to the protection of the domestic labor 
of the country ; the distribution of proceeds from the sale of 
public lands ; a single term for the presidency ; a reform of 
executive usurpations ; and generally such an administration 
of the affairs of the country as shall impart to every branch of 
public service the greatest practical efficiency, controlled by 
well-regulated and wise economy." These were the issues of 
1844, expressed in convention at Baltimore on May ist, of 
that year ; and underneath them is the recognition of a /eo- 
ple's £-ov eminent, protection of the people's interests, people's 
financial safety : in short, American principles. 

But the result was not the same as in 1840. An abolition 



58 THE LIFE OF ' 

candidate, voted for in New York and Michigan, took the 
electoral votes of tliose States from Clay and gave them to 
Folk. These alone added to Clay's 105, and taken from 
Polk's 170,'vv^ould have elected Clay. But that movement 
was honest; and, compared with others, but for which Clay 
might have been elected anyhow, it was wise. The Democrats 
in some states advocated free trade, and in some protection 
— a characteristic policy, as the present generation knows. 
Again, there were t ,000 fraudulent votes cast in one parish in 
Louisiana, which gave Polk a majority in that State of only 
699. Again, in New York, there was a large amount of 
fraudulent naturalizing for voting purposes on the part of the 
Democrats. And again, even while Calhoun had formerly 
been professing to be a Whig, he had been working to 
sometime spring the question of slavery by the question of 
the annexation of Texas. It was this that caused the abolition 
movement in the North ; it was this that appealed to South- 
ern prejudice rather than to Southern principle, and lost Clay 
the majority of the Southern votes. 

The majority of the people, North and South, had really 
Whig convictions ; but the Machiavelian policy of springing 
an issue ivholly on sectional prejudice^ drew them away. 
Had the slave question come up in its own good time, by way 
of the natural growth of Americanism away from the class- 
ideas of the old world, allowing a chance for its discussion 
while the fires of patriotism burned, there might have been a 
different termination of that question, so far as the enormity 
of the struggle was concerned. 

The people of the South, and many of like opinions in the 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 59 

North, were more sincere on the slavery question than Calhoun 
and his associates, who seemed to raise the question for political 
effect. The Mexican War had as its real incentive among the 
leaders at first, the extension of slavery and the overshadowing 
by the slave power of free state influence by the addition of 
new territory. But among the people who enlisted, the 
declaration of Congress, secured by Democrats, that the war 
was already begun " by the act of the Republic of Mexico," had 
stirred a deeper patriotism. It w-as this patriotism among 
Southern Whigs, and the prejudice on the slavery question 
among them and many Northerners, stirred up by Calhoun and 
others, that put the Northern Whigs in Congress between 
two fires. 

The Mexican battles were fought and won, and new glory 
was added to the American arms. The bill in Congress, in 
1846, to make an appropriation to negotiate a peace with 
Mexico, had called out the famous amendment by David 
Wilmot, " that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary 
servitude in any territory on the Continent of America, which 
shall hereafter be acquired by, or annexed to, the United 
States by virtue of this appropriation, or in any other manner 
whatever except for crime." The amendment had failed, but 
had produced its wonderful effect, and had gone into history 
as the " Wilmot Proviso." The slavery question had been 
dividing both parties ; the note of secession had been sounded 
in the South, the note of hasty resistance in the North. Di- 
visions were made on the issues, not on the principles of the 
parties. Whigs at heart had rallied to Democratic ranks ; and 
Whigs at heart, impatient of delay, had formed the Free Soil 



6o THE LIFE OF ' 

party. Seceders also from the Democratic ranks had joined 
the Free Soil movement, and the Buffalo Convention of 1848 
had been held by the nev^ party. Notwithstanding the dis- 
ruptions, Taylor had led the hosts in 1848, and had been 
made President of the United States. He had died in office, 
and Fillmore, the milder Whig, had guided the administration 
through a period of apparent calm. 

But the mutterings of the storm were in the South and in 
Kansas. Another campaign was on. The Free Soilers had 
nominated Hale and Julian ; the Whigs, General Scott and 
William A. Graham ; and the Democrats, Pierce and King. 
Such was the political situation when Ben Harrison began to 
study law. He could not help being interested in the outcome 
of the canvass. He was a Whig, believing the time not yet for 
the settling of the slave question ; believing that the extension 
of slavery should indeed be prohibited (as, not believing in 
slavery at all as a moral institution, he with others believed 
it to be constitutional to prevent its extension, but that its over- 
throw where it did exist would be violence uncalled for while 
opinions of great and good men on the constitutional right 
differed) ; and believing that strict American principles should 
be always at the front as issues, while other important issues 
should rise in their natural order and be discussed from the 
stand-point of those principles. 

He had had his convictions from his boyhood. His natural 
indignation in 1844, when unlaw ftd naturalization in New 
York had carried that State to the Democrats, was expressed 
emphatically then and afterwards, although he was at that 
time but eleven years old ; but he never opposed, even then, 



BENJATvIIN HARRISON. 6i 

laxuful naturalization. More than other boys, he had the spirit 
of 1S40, that allowed every citizen a right to express his opinion 
in a vote, whether natural or foreign born. And this belief 
characterized him all his youth and manhood. Up to 1852, he 
was a Whig in every sense of the word. And now, naturally, 
being in the midst of politicians in the office, he was more 
interested than ever — and more of a Whig. 

The result of the campaign of 1853, as might have been fore- 
seen, was that Pierce was elected by a large majority, and 
"fire eaters" and other foes to the country came again to the 
front. 

While he studied law, he walked back and forth between his 
sister's house, in North Bend, and the office. This was to save 
the expense of board, for meanwhile the family purse grew no 
heavier. 

The heart of the young law student had never for a moment 
ceased its loyalty to its queen at Oxford, and in October, 1853, 
he went to fulfil the marriage contract. This, to the young 
couple was far more than a legal transaction. It was the leav- 
ing parents for each other, and becoming, in heart and mind 
and life, as well as in legal relation, " one flesh" ; it was the 
founding on a holy and sanctified and divine basis, a home, a 
family. Both of them believed implicitly in the sacredness of 
the marriage tie. 

Both of them, as soon as the engagement had been made, 
had felt a change of attitude, as it were, of their affections. 
They loved the old homes and dear ones no less, but they loved 
each other more, and felt they were soon to enter a society 



62 THE LIFE OF | 

established and hallowed by Jehovah — a society with bonds 
irrevocable. 

Miss Carrie L. Scott was just the woman to glorify a rela- 
tionship like that, and to make ready her heart, and purpose, 
and life, beforehand, to carry out sacredly the solemn pledge. 
Reared in a family of rich cultivation and of conscience, she 
was ready with such instincts to make such a home. Her 
father had long been a professor, and had made his house the 
the welcome place for the refined and educated. In his own 
life he always, at home and abroad, manifested the traits of a 
well-educated gentleman. His cultivation was not mere culti- 
vation, but was the development of rare natural powers and 
their training by a long experience. He was as gentle as a 
child, and as graceful. And Carrie's mother was no less of 
the noble and refined type. 

Carrie's was a religious home, full of the graces and sweet 
influences that religion can bring around the hearthstone. 
Her sparkling and half-roguish and captivating brown eyes 
were not those of the careless-hearted maiden, and betrayed 
no feeling or instinct of the coquette, but spoke rather the 
deeper and more earnest joy of a deeper nature. She was 
every way charming : her shapely form, her shapely hands with 
neat, tapering fingers, her regular features, all making her a 
beauty ; and above all, the intelligent and captivating expres- 
sions of her countenance were winning qualities. She was 
the charm of her circle, and her grace and manner made her 
the idol of her lady acquaintances. Withal, she was sericus 
and intensely religious. 

During the winter of 1S53-4, ^^^^ ^^PPy couple lived at the 
home near North Bend, preparing meanwhile to begin life's 

i 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



63 



battle alone in the spring. When spring came, it was all 
arranged that the young lawyer should take his bride and settle 
in Indianapolis. He was also the better enabled to run this 
risk by receiving a bequest about that time of $800. An aunt, 
Mrs. Findly, died and left him that amount. Nevertheless, it 
required no small courage to face the uncertainties of an en- 
tirely strange locality with but eight hundred dollars and an 
untried profession, and a wife depending upon him. But the 
resolution was characteristic of him : he wanted to be inde- 
pendent, to go where he would be compelled to work ; above 
all, he wanted to rise by his own merits, and not by the name 
of his grandfather. 








Mm.m^''. 






MRS. BENJAMIN HARRISON, 

WIFE OF GENERAL HARRISON. 



Chapter V. 



THE YOUNG LAWYER. 

JOURNEY TO LAVVRENCEBURG THENCE TO INDIANAPOLIS — THE CITY 

AT THAT TIME — A HUMBLE COTTAGE — HE PUTS OUT HIS " SHIN- 
GLE " POOR PROMISE OF SUCCESS DAYS SPENT IN ABSTRACT 

OFFICE OFFICE OF JOHN H. REA, CLERK OF DISTRICT COURT OF 

UNITED STATES A PROVIDENTIAL OPPORTUNITY POINT LOOK- 
OUT BURGLARY CASE PARTNERSHIP WITH WILLIAM WALLACE 

ANOTHER CASE BRINGS HONOR — PARTNERSHIP WITH W. P. FISH- 
BACK. 

The journey of the young couple to Lawrenceburg must be 
made in wagons. It was about fourteen miles distant, and there 
was no railroad to that point. They carried with them boxes of 
provisions, some bedding, and a few other necessities of home 
life. From Lawrenceburg they sent the wagon back, and took 
the train to Indianapolis. They had no express trains and steel 
rails on the road then. The road was rough, the seats were 
uncomfortable — at least modern travelers would consider 
them so. But at last they arrived in the capital of Indiana. 

Indianapolis gave no promise then of its present magnifi- 
cence, though it was a growing little town. Most of the 
houses were near the east bank of the White River ; but that 
quarter was not destined to become the centre of the cit} , for 
business soon left it, and it is to-day comparatively a deserted 
quarter. 
6 



66 THE LIFE OF 

The first thing necessary, on arriving at the new capital, 
was to find a place to stay. So the young husband secured board 
for himself and wife, at what was known as the Roll House, 
until they could find a home. Meanwhile he " kept a look-out" 
for a house with rent within his probable ability to pay. This 
was the usual way of expressing it ; but, in truth, Benjamin 
Harrison never had a doubt as to his success, although he really 
under-rated his own abilities when he sat in judgment on them. 
He knew that he should not fail, because he knew he was going 
to work, and he had confidence in perseverance ; while he knew 
that, however few talents he might have, others who had 
fewer had succeeded. 

At last a small house was found, on the corner of North and 
Alabarna streets — in the eastern suburbs of the city as it was 
then, but in the heart of the present city of Indianapolis. The 
house had a gable front in which was a windov/ and a door. 
It was a low, one-story building ; but it had an air of cosiness 
and home-likeness, in spite of its humbleness. A large shade- 
tree stood just by the walk before the door, adding its attractive- 
ness to the scene. On entering, they found that the house 
contained but three rooms ; but that was quite sufficient for 
their wants and comfort, and it was hired at $6.00 a month : 
and this was their first Indianapolis home. 

Here was the first realization of home — the dream of their 
young lives. So happy were they in it that it mattered not 
to them that the cottage was humble, and that there were but 
three rooms. Here gathered the associations of early married 
life. The house stands yet, as it used to stand ; and the pres- 
ent General Benjamin Harrison and his estimable wife cannot 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 67 

look upon it without a throng of delicious memories rising 
before them. Here they began life in humblest manner ; but 
somehow there is even a halo about that as it is recalled by 
them. The sickness, the trial, and the suffering are either 
forgotten, or hallowed by association with the good that arose 
out of them. Here the first child was born ; and the wife 
was no longer so lonely while her husband was absent about 
the task of finding paying cases. 

He was fair-haired and boyish — appearing younger than he 
was. There was not that maturity in his looks and expres- 
sion that won, at a glance, the confidence of those seeking 
lawyers to befriend them in court. He had not that self- 
assertion that is a positive necessity in getting along with some 
classes. His slender form, and stature below the average, 
were not apt to impress one. 

Hence, his first year at Indianapolis was not one of brilliant 
success. He spent, during that time, many hours in abstract 
offices, hunting up titles, and getting small pay for his pains 
— his highest fee being five dollars. He secured, through 
John L. Robinson, the position of court-crier, at $3.50 a day, 
but court was not in session long enough in the year to add 
much to his slender purse. 

Before he had received a fee in this or any other man- 
ner, he was standing one day on the sidewalk just before his 
door, and under the tree. It was the first Sunday after they 
had gone to house-keeping. He was looking up at the cottage 
and thinking with some pride of it, as his home ; there is no 
purer or more comforting pride a man has in life than in the 
contemplation of his first home after marriage. While he was 



68 THE LIFE OF 

thus contentedly engaged, a horseman came dashing up the 
street, and stopped before the door. Mr. Harrison turned to 
know the errand of this breaker of his reverie. 

The man had come from Clermont, a small village eight 
miles west of there, to find a lawyer to prosecute, before a 
justice of the peace, a man who had been arrested on a charge 
of obtaining money under false pretenses. Would Mr. Har- 
rison go down and prosecute ? Mr. Harrison agreed that he 
would go. Then the man dropped a five-dollar gold-piece 
into the young lawyer's hand, gave directions about reaching 
Clermont and the hour for trial, and left. 

Five dollars ! That was a god-send, indeed ! But part of 
that must be paid for some means of going, for he could not 
walk. It would not do to hire a horse and buggy — that 
would take too much from the welcome fee. So the next 
morning, he hired a pony at a stable, and when the hour for 
starting came, set oft' to win his first laurels in legal contest. 
And he won them. 

He demonsti-ated, in that successful suit, as he subsequently 
did in every case with which he had to do, that, in spite of 
disadvantages of poverty and youth, he was cut out for a law- 
yer. However, as it generally requires a lawyer of some 
greatness and established fame to recognize the abilities of the 
rising young lawyer, and as men of that class were not apt to 
be pleading cases before a country justice, Benjamin Harrison 
must wait for recognition until some future day. He entered 
the office of John H. Rea, Clerk of the District Court of the 
United States. He had little success until a rather fortunate 
incident occurred. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 69 

The famous " Point Lookout" burglary case was before the 
court, with Governor David Wallace on one side, and Major 
Jonathan W. Gordon, the prosecuting attorney, on the other. 
Major Gordon was a man of great ability, and had formed a 
high estimate of the real abilities of young Harrison. Governor 
Wallace was assisted in the defense by Sims Colley. 

The closing appeal to the jury, it was found, would not 
come until the evening of the closing day, and Major Gordon 
found himself confronted by duties in two places at the same 
hour. He desired to attend a lecture by Horace Mann in 
the evening, and it was necessary to find some one to fill his 
place before the jury. The choice fell on Mr. Harrison, 
whom he knew was careful, earnest, capable, and would spare 
no pains to make his speech a success. 

Governor Wallace, for the defense, was one of the leading 
Indiana lawyers. He was an old and experienced lawyer, 
skilled in making all out of the testimony possible in its pres- 
entation to the jury. He was, moreover, an old friend of 
Mr. Harrison's grandfather. The records of 1840 show that 
John Scott Harrison desired to be appointed by his father to 
a West Point cadetship, and that the father preferred the son 
I of his friend. Governor Wallace, for the place, rather than his 
own son ; and so Wallace was appointed. 

It is perhaps worthy of remembrance that it is not an 
easy thing for a young man, with that degree of modesty 
! that had always characterized Benjamin Harrison, to enter the 
lists with a man whom he had always been wont to look up 
to with some reverence as his grandfather's friend. Those 
associated with our fathers when we are very young we learn 



7o THE LIFE OF 

to reverence almost as much as we do our fathers themselves. 
To face duty in such a case is worthy of more honor, because 
it is the manifestation of real courage, than to egotistically and 
with brazen effrontery seek to contend with great men. 

The evening session met at "candle lighting," and the 
candles cast very shadowy light over the old low, dingy court- 
room-, crowded with people. The room was full of smoke, 
from candles and stove, and the fumes of tobacco made the air 
nauseating. The prospect was not encouraging. 

At the time for his speech, Mr. Harrison took from his 
pocket his notes that he had written during the day, and began 
to scan them. To his disgust he could see nothing in the dim 
light but very uncertain tracings with a hard pencil — not a 
word could he make out in that light. He began his speech, 
but soon found, from the almost breathless audience, that he 
was winning more sympathy for his youth, or his misfortune, 
than for the wisdom of his utterances. His voice was heard at 
the farthest corner. He tried again to scan the apparently 
almost blank leaves. He could tell nothing, and after 
discovering that he must fail if he depended on those notes, 
he threw them aside, and boldly launched forth into the 
argument without them. He remembered the essential parts 
of the testimony, and was not hindered by details ; so perhaps 
it was best. At any rate he canvassed the ground so thor- 
oughly and so clearly that he called down the praises of audi- 
ence and old lawyers on his head. 

When Governor Wallace rose to reply he took occasion 
first to gracefully and earnestly compliment the young lawyer 
on his speech. And this, Mr. Harrison's first jury case, was 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 71 

the beginning of a warm friendship that rose between himself 
and Governor Wallace, which was not hindered in the least 
by the young lawyer's triumph in that case. This circum- 
stance had also, no doubt, something to do with linking the 
fortunes of Mr. Harrison and of Governor Wallace's son, Wil- 
liam Wallace, together for a time. 

This was the same son who had obtained the West Point 
cadetship when it was desired by Mr. Harrison's father. The 
partnership came about in this way : Young Wallace, who 
had already won some success in his practice, received, in 
1S55, the nomination for county clerk. As the canvass 
required a good deal of time, he desired some one to assist 
him in his practice. He met his young friend, Ben Harrison, 
on the street one day, and told him that he had some clients, 
and that if he would go into the office and take them, he would 
share the profits with him. This is all the contract that was 
ever made, and the young firm began its existence with little 
experience, but with the energy of young blood and brains 
to carry to success. 

Mr. Wallace, since that time, has borne testimony in favor 
of the admirable qualities of young Benjamin Harrison, as he 
then knew him. He has ascribed to the young lawyer 
from North Bend, quickness of apprehension, clearness, 
method and logic in analysis and statement of cases, natural 
ability to draw truth from witnesses, successfulness in winning 
from courts and juries their closest attention. Said Mr. Wal- 
lace : "He was poor. The truth is, it was a struggle for 
bread and meat with both of us. He had a noble young wife, 
who cheerfully shared with him the plainest and simplest style 



72 THE LIFE OF 

of living. He did the work about his home for a long time 
himself, and thus made his professional income, not large, 
keep him independent and free from debt." 

Among those of the Indianapolis bar, with whom Mr. 
Harrison came in contact in those days, were Oliver H. Smith, 
John L. Ketchum, Simon Yandes, Hugh O'Neal, and David 
Wallace. These were all men of note as lawyers, and they 
all, then, and afterwards, bore testimony to the rare abilities of 
the young lawyer. This, to him was a larger school than that 
of the office of Storer & Gwynne at Cincinnati, for here he 
was not an apprentice ; yet he always made use of his sur- 
roundings, of whatever nature, to draw from them information 
and experience. o 

Not long after the burglary trial, another case gave Ben 
Harrison a chance of manifesting the metal that was in him. A 
negro cook at the Ray House, Indianapolis, was accused of put- 
ting poison into the coffee of some of the boarders with a view 
to murder. The case was attracting wide attention. Harrison 
was called to the prosecution, and had but one night to pre- 
pare. He went to the office of young Dr. T. Parvin, who 
afterwards became noted as one of the professors of Jefferson 
Medical College, of Philadelphia, and the two spent the whole 
night experimenting, Harrison studying thoroughly the effect 
of poisons, and thus gaining a knowledge of the subject 
superior to that of his opponents in the case. The next day 
the defense met more than its match in the thoroughly pre- 
pared young lawyer. He applied himself so vigorously that 
he won the case, and secured conviction for the prisoner. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



73 



He won also additional praise for himself from noted lawyers 
and from all who were acquainted with the case. 

The two young men, William Wallace and Benjamin Har- 
rison, continued as partners in law for some years. In the 
West, especially among the older class of citizens, there is a 
prejudice against young men in profession, as to tKeir ability. 
A young lawyer, however brilliantly he may have succeeded 
in a few cases, will not be employed half so readily as an old 
lawyer who fails to win more than half his cases. In spite of 
the lack of prestige the Harrison & Wallace firm grew in 
favor and success. 

In iS6o Wallace had retired from the partnersliip, and 
Harrison formed another with W. P. Fishback. But in that 
same year another chance offered itself, and he was not slow 
to seize the opportunity. 




CHAPTER VI. 



THE YOUNG POLITICIAN. 

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1856 — THE NEW PARTY AND ITS PRINCIPLES — 
A SUCCESSFUL CANDIDACY — A MEMORABLE DEBATE AT ROCKVILLE 
— THE LINCOLN CAMPAIGN — A RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE PO- 
LITICAL PARTIES — THE SITUATION IN 1860 — WHIG PRINCIPLES 
AND FREE SOIL ISSUES — THE SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN — THE 

REPORTER IN OFFICE THE GUNS OF SUMTER BOUND AT 

HOME A PATRIOT. 

The enthusiasm awakened in the breast of the boy of 1840 
was still in the breast of the young man of 1856. But he was 
not a demonstrative young man ; and was never found on the 
street corners, in groceries, in offices, or in bar-rooms, count- 
ing ofl' arguments on his fingers. He was rather chary of his 
opinions ; not through any haughtiness, nor yet because he had 
no confidence in them, but because rather of a native diffi- 
dence, and no doubt also of a sense of the " fitness of things " 
— rather the unfitness of the assumption of a mere youth. 

Nevertheless, he could express his opinions clearly and 
tersely when pressed, or at a time when in doing so he could 
accomplish any good object. His political views were not 
unknown in Indianapolis, and when the campaign of 1856 
came on, he was positively pressed into the service of speech- 
making. 

Many remember that campaign. It had not, perhaps, the 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 75 

enthusiasm of 1840; but it had, at least on one side, that 
enthusiasm born of deep conviction, fervent patriotism, and 
indomitable purpose. As the Whigs, in the memorable Harri- 
son campaign, had for the first time crystallized into a party 
with definite principles and aims, so far as the people were 

j concerned, so in the Fremont campaign, the Republican 
party was standing at the threshold of its active life. The 
party had not sprung into existence on a mere issue, however 
important, which being successful, would leave no reason for 
the party's longer existence. It came into being for the con- 
servation of principles born with the Republic and that will 
last while the Republic lasts. So long as these principles are 
opposed by men or parties there will be a necessity of organ- 

i ized society for their defense. When the Republican party 
shall prove untrue to this trust, on the springing of issues that 

! involve the principles, that element in the Nation which has 
rallied around and defended them from the days before the 
Revolution, will combine for their defense under more favorable 
conditions for success, and more patriotic leadership. " The 
,, Union must and shall be preserved." 

I It is a significant fact that men who, as boys, caught the 
spirit of 1840, are chosen and trusted, as men, as standard 

II bearers to-day. Hope need not " close her bright eyes, nor 
cui-b her high career," so far as the party is colicerned, while 
men like Benjamin Harrison are leaders. 

The nominations had just been made. " Fremont and 
Dayton" was a signal of safety in the approaching storm. 
Though they might not hope for success at the polls that year, 
they knew that the elements of patriotism predominated in the 



76 THE LIFE OF 

Nation, and as time would make known their intentions, a 
mighty majority would come up in the future. Of this pres- 
cient confidence, young Benjamin Harrison had his full 
share ; and this fact was known. 

A ratification meeting was called in Indianapolis. Some- 
body must speak ; and a good many thought of Mr. Harrison. 
He was at work in his office, which was in Temperance Hall, 
a building that stood on Washington Street, between Illinois 
and Meridian streets. He heard a stamping of many feet up 
the stairway, and he heard many loud voices. Then he saw 
an excited crowd of men rush in, and the leader seize him by 
the arm. He must go and make the ratification speech ; the 
crowd had gathered and was waiting, and there was no 
speaker. 

He protested. He was interested, of course — they knew 
that ; but he was a lawyer, not a politician. Besides, he was 
not prepared. Let older men speak ; they could do more good ; 
they had experience and study which he did not have. But 
no excuse would be taken — he must speak. When he pro- 
tested again, the men lifted him up onto their shoulders and 
carried him to the assembled throng, made him stand upon a 
goods box, and required of him a speech. 

He was introduced as the grandson of William Henry Har- 
rison. " I want it understood," said he, on facing the peo- 
ple, " that I am the grandson of nobody. I believe every man 
should stand on his own merits." He was not without pride, 
of course, that he was the grandson of an illustrious man ; and 
that relationship — that blood — he knew helped to make him 
the man that needed not to be ashamed ; and the consciousness 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 77 

of it was fuel to the fire of courage within him. But it was 
a cardinal doctrine with him that honor and success should 
follow the honest effort of personal and inherent virtues, as eflect 
follows cause ; that they should not be hindered by any arbi- 
trary rules or favoritism in society ; and that honor, and even 
prestige, claimed or assumed on account of blood, or any- 
thing acquired by nature or accident, defrauds merit of its 
rightful and lawfully acquired possession. 

But under the circumstances it became his duty to speak ; 
and speak he did. And the effect followed the cause — he 
was honored for his worth and ability. He was in demand 
from that time for the stump, and right loyally he did his 
part. In Franklin County, not long after, he was called on 
again, and some enthusiastic friend, to capture the crowd for 
him before he had shown whether he was worthy of it, intro- 
duced him again as the grandson of the renowned President. 
Again he protested against that method of introduction, saying 
that he preferred to speak for himself, not for his grandfather. 
These incidents taught his friends that they had in him a 
thorough American ; and he has done nothing since to shake 
that confidence. He took part, not only in the campaign to 
its close, but in every state or local campaign from that time 
until i860. 

Meanwhile, whatever was good in the old Whig party had 
adjusted itself to a new setting in the Republican party ; and 
the old settings — organization, name, watch-words and tokens 
of successful issues, and successful issues themselves — were 
cast aside. It may not be uninteresting to record, that even 
the old log cabin, of the campaign of 1840, was totally de- 



78 THE LIFE OF 

stroyed by fire, on the 25th of February, 185S — the malicious 
work of a discharged servant. This may serve as a token, or 
an illustration of the fact that the malicious servants of the old 
Whig party, whom it had refused to glorify in office and 
spoils, were really the destroyers of the party. And as the 
sacred influences of the old cabin at North Bend had now cen- 
tered in the newer brick house on the farm, — for even Grand- 
mother Harrison, on whose birthday the cabin was burned, 
was living with her son, and knew not of the burning for sev- 
eral years, — so all the sacred principles and memorials of the 
Whigs had been safely conserved in the new and safe Republi- 
can structure before the Whig organization was swept away. 

In 1S60 Ben Harrison's circumstances and his growing con- 
fidence in his own ability made him feel justified in having his 
name presented for the suffi-ages of his fellow-citizens, and he 
became the candidate for the office of reporter of the Supreme 
Court of Indiana. Throughout the memorable campaign of 
that year his voice was heard, almost from one end of the 
State to the other, pleading for the principles of the American 
Union. 

An incident illustrating his grasp of those principles, his 
power in debate, and the thorough mastery he always had of 
his subjects before he undertook to speak, occurred during 
this campaign. He had an appointment to speak in the Court 
House at Rockville, in Park County. When he arrived, he 
learned that Thomas A. Hendricks, one of the most noted 
Democratic leaders of the State, and in that campaign can- 
didate for governor of Indiana, and already near to the con- 
spicuous position he afterwards held in national fame, was also 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 79 

to speak in the town. Park was a strong Democratic county, 
but the Republicans were anxious to gain further ground, and 
to counteract the influence of Hendricks on that day. In a 
forlorn hope they asked Harrison if he would undertake a 
joint discussion with Hendricks. The Democrats also, fear- 
ing nothing from the boyish-looking Harrison, were anxious 
for the debate ; but Hendricks would not condescend to enter 
into a formal debate with so youthful an opponent. He 
would speak two hours, he said, and the young man might 
talk two hours longer, if he wanted to, and Hendricks would 
listen. 

The issues were local, as well as national. The Democrats 
were in power in the State, and under their administration of 
affairs huge swindles had been carried on, notably what was 
known as the swamp-land frauds. Mr. Harrison had made 
himself thoroughly acquainted with this subject, as well as with 
the general questions. While Mr, Hendricks was speaking, it 
seemed to Democrats and Republicans that the victory was 
already his. The crowded Court House rang with cheer after 
cheer, as the speech proceeded. On the platform sat Daniel 
Voorhees, who was already rising to fame, and other local 
Democratic leaders ; while the youthful Harrison, not having 
either the courtesy of a chair, or a condescending notice of his 
presence by Mr. Hendricks or his colleagues, sat on a desk and 
let his feet hang toward the floor. And thus Mr. Hendricks' 
speech went on until it was twice two hours in length — at 
least young Harrison felt It so. At last the " great speech " 
ended, and Mr. Hendricks, suddenly remembering a forgotten 



8o THE LIFE OF 

duty, quietly and politely let the people know that they ought 
to remain. 

When Mr. Harrison rose before the tired audience, there 
was not a cheer, nor a motion of any kind that gave him to 
understand that his friends were with him. He felt that his 
friends were wishing for some greater man to answer that 
speech. When he began, his voice was heard throughout the 
large room, and for a moment one might have been reminded 
of his first utterances when he appeared the first time before a 
jury. But only for a moment. His first statement was a 
proposition which he then said the Democrats had once be- 
lieved. 

Here Mr. Voorhees arose with great dignity and denied that 
the Democrats had ever believed the proposition. 

" Fellow-citizens," rang out the clear voice of the young 
candidate, before Mr. Voorhees had time to regain his seat, 
" the denial of the gentleman induces me to amend my state- 
ment. I now assert that every Democrat believed the propo- 
sition, except Mr. Voorhees — he was then a Whig." 

The applause that followed showed the appreciation of the 
retort by the audience ; while the sharpness of the thrust made 
Mr. Voorhees conclude to keep his seat thereafter. So the 
young speaker went on, and before he had filled out half his time, 
the tide had turned in his favor, as the cheering and applause 
"and eager attention of the audience plainly indicated. His 
sarcasm went to the heart of the arguments that had been set 
up in the belief that he knew nothing of the matters. When 
he closed, cheers rose up as if to rend the roof of the large 
auditorium. Mr. Hendricks told him, when the meeting had 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 8i 

adjourned, that he would never again consent to give him a two- 
hours closing speech. In speaking of the affair afterwards, 
the chairman of the meeting said: "I have heard a good 
many political debates in my day, but I never heard a man 
skin an opponent as quickly as Ben Harrison did Hendricks 
that day." 

In that year there was a much larger rallying of forces to 
the Republican standard. Time was doing its work. When 
the election was over, it was apparent that Lincoln had 
received iSo electoral votes against 123 for all the otlier can- 
didates ; and then were fairly begun the trying times of the 
Republic — the times foreshadowed in 1854, '^^^ even earlier. 

Great men are seldom in haste. It is hard for good men to 
believe that bad men are so bad. It was hard for men like 
Webster and Clay to believe that the South could not be con- 
ciliated, earlier than 1854, when the mutterings of discontent 
and threats of disunion were heard throughout her borders. 
These men had labored all their lives to build up the Union, 
and it was hard for them to realize the idea of rebellion. They 
were not ready for Free Soil issues. They believed that the 
discontented portion of our country might be conciliated. 

But in 1854, the startling news ran over the country that 
Congress was about to repeal the Missouri Compromise Bill 
of 1820. By that bill it had been provided " that in all the 
territory ceded by France to the United States, under the 
name of Louisiana, which lies north of latitude 36*^, 30' N., 
except only such part thereof as is included \vithin the limit 
of the State (Missouri) contemplated by this act, slavery and 
involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of 
6 



82 THE LIFE OF 

crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall 
be and is hereby forever prohibited." To repeal this would 
be a proclamation of irreconciliation, and a greater insult to 
those who had urged conciliation than to those who had not. 
It would be a plain profession, on the part of the South, tliat 
they did not intend to be conciliated with anything less than 
unqualified submission to their demands in all things. It 
would be slavery in all the territories, a designedly taking 
advantage of a majority in Congress to force an overbalanc- 
ing of slave power, that slaveiy might go wherever the 
South commanded it (and that was not uncertain, for the ex- 
pressed declaration of incautious leaders had already pointed 
to states not territories), and it would be bad faith. f 

Genuine old Whigs declared that, while slavery might sta}^ 
where it was, it should advance no further : the manner of 
these southern threats, and the proposed repeal, were any- ■! 
thing but echoes of Union and liberty-loving hearts. Men ^ 
who, while issues had been conflicting had been uncertain in |: 
their party moorings, began to rail}' to the standard of the ' 
grand old defenders of American faith. But these defenders — • 
tired of intrigue, and grown at last impatient of the dallying J 
of mere politicians with questions now grown so serious — had 
bound themselves together in a new party. It was the very i 
best Whig element — the element that, first of all, could be f 
touched and warned by any threatened danger to human liber- 4 
ties. For the bill had now been repealed — "declared inop- 
erative and void " — and that was warning enough. 

The Whigs brought into the new organization the elements 
of body and blood. From the beginning of its existence the 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 83 

Whig party had championed those principles which recognize 
the equal rights of all American citizens. ' ' Protection to home 
industries" — that means equal rights in living and getting a 
living. "Internal impi'ovements " — that means equal facilities 
for trade to all sections, equal enjoyment of great advantages, 
and the example of employment at wages of Americans. " A 
just and dignified foreign policy " — that means that a govern- 
ment " by the people, for the people," should command the 
respect of all nations; for "foreign policy " in a monarchy 
means the welfare of the king, and "foreign policy" in a 
republic means the welfare and honor of the people. " The 
Union, one and inseparable " — that means the husbanding 
of the powers that sustain these principles, the balancing of 
equal elements, the possibility of the success of our government 
principles, which " states' rights," especially as then held 
by Democrats, made impossible. 

When an issue is made, involving the continued existence 
of equal rights as fundamental in our government, those be- 
lieving in it, and seeing its danger in the issue, rally together, 
and the party is formed. At such a trumpet call the Re- 
publican party was organized. The "Anti-Nebraska" 
movement in Ohio and other States heralded the gathering 
of the clans. Other movements came quickly. Then the 
first National Convention of the Republican party, in 1856, 
nominated Fremont and Dayton for President and Vice-Presi- 
dent, with the result already named. In Indiana, alone, Fre- 
mont received 94,375 votes against 23,386 for Fillmore, and 
118,670 for Buchanan — no small showing for the first cam- 
paign of a party. 

The consolidation was not complete, however, even as late 



84 THE LIFE OF 

as iS6o, for there were four tickets in the field that year. 
This, indeed, apparently, did not seriously affect the Republi- 
can party, and not at all as to the result. But one of the 
divisions, at least, shows that there were loyal men who still re- 
fused to believe the South capable of the high-handed wicked- 
ness of rebellion. These were, for the most part, men who 
had affiliated with the Democrats, who loved the name, and who, 
though they could not believe their brethren meditated crime 
so dire, would not go with them even to the declaration of 
principles so adverse to American government. These, 
wherever they might formerly have wandered when party 
lines were falsely pointed out along local and personal issues, 
and however the unnatural affiliation may have become 
sacred, were really Whigs in principle, for they would not go 
where Democratic opinions logically led them, and when the 
war came on, their declarations on behalf of vmion were as 
clear sounding as those of the old Whigs. Witness the speech 
of Mr. Douglas, in Chicago, at the outset of the Rebellion. 

It need not be said that Benjamin Harrison kept close 
watch of the march of events, as the years went on, and that 
he was always in full sympathy with the new Republican 
party. The fires of indignation grew hotter in his breast from 
the days of the discussion of the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
promise Bill, and of the Dred Scott Decision. It was the zeal 
of patriotism that gave power to his woids in i860. 

As one of the results of this campaign, he was elected and 
soon entered upon the duties of his office of reporter of the 
Supreme Court. It will, perhaps, never be a matter of history 
just how much, or how little, he contributed to the success of 
the State ticket — to the election of Henry S. Lane as gov- 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 85 

ernor of Indiana — and of the National ticket in that State. 
But it is certain that, young as he was, his services were highly- 
appreciated by his Republican colleagues, and that he won not 
a few votes to the Republican candidates. 

This office, coming to him at that time, was of great 
financial benefit. He had just negotiated for a house, for 
which he was to pay $2,900 — a large sum for the young law- 
yer. He had been fortunate enough to get the house " at a bar- 
! gain," from the Honorable A. G. Porter, afterwards governor 
of Indiana. He was to pay for it by Installments, and it was 
understood that Mr. Porter would not be "hard on him" in 
case of failure in promptness in some payments. But this did 
not lessen Mr. Harrison's sense of obligation, and he felt that 
the contract was just as binding as if his creditor had been 
unmerciful. He hoped to be able, in not many months, to pay 
the full amount, by the help of the income of his office 
added to that of his profession. He had only made one small 
payment, so far, and he i-ealized the struggle before him, in 
spite of the aid of his office. The house stood on North New 
Jersey Street, near the corner of Vermont. It was larger and 
more commodious than the cottage in which they had made 
their home since coming to Indianapolis. In this house, 
which, so far as the terms were concerned, they could now call 
their own, their daughter "was born, just a year before he be- 
came a candidate for the office of reporter — that is, in 1859. 

Thus, with a fair income from his office and profession 
combined, and in a fair way to pay for his home, with a 
loving wife and two beautiful and dear children, this husband 
and father could have been no happier. 

But he had scarcely " settled himself" in his office, when 



86 BENJAMIN HARRISON. 

the guns of Sumter startled the country. The Southern 
leaders had dashed down the fond hopes of their Northern 
friends — they would not be conciliated. Calm judgment had 
decided this before, while the States were " formally " seced- 
ing, if not even earlier : but now all could know the situation. 
Then came the call for 75,000 three-months volunteers. That 
meant, on the other hand, a hope, even in the hearts of the 
most patriotic and those of the coolest judgment in the North, 
that the rebellion was not so formidable but that it could 
soon be put down. 

Benjamin Harrison wanted to go to the battle-field. He felt 
the spirit of patriotism rising in him, and the almost irrepressible 
desire to be in the nation's vanguard that characterized so many 
of the time. But it was only for three months ; the rebellion 
would be ended by that time, and the welfare of the country 
assured, and business not retarded ; and he was under a sol- 
emn contract which he would return in three months to 
find practically violated and impossible to meet, as agreed. ■ 
Moreover, his office claimed him ; and his canvass had been 
made with the understanding of fidelity on his part. And 
then his wife and children lived by what he earned, and the 
source of supplies for their sustenance would be cut oft' by his' 
going. He felt that his duty was at home, at least until 
there was a more urgent demand for soldiers. 

But he was none the less interested in the success of those 
who went, and his voice continued to be heard in favor of the 
Union. There was no part of Benjamin Harrison's history — 
education, training, early influences, reading, natural disposi- 
tion, inheritance — that did not tend to make him every inch 
a patriot. 



Chapter VII. 



THE PATRIOT SOLDIER. 

"THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND xMORE " — THE EFFECT ON THE YOUNG 

PATRIOT A VOLUNTEER RECRUITING AND ENLISTING SERVICE 

COLONEL OF THE SEVENTIETH INDIANA KENTUCKY AND TEN- 
NESSEE FIRST BRIGADE OF THE THIRD DIVISION OF THE TWEN- 
TIETH ARMY CORPS THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN THE BATTLE 

OF RESACA "COME ON, BOYS !" THE BATTLE OF PEACH TREE 

CREEK A LETTER FROM GENERAL HOOKER TO THE SECRE- 
TARY OF WAR ITS RESULT A PROMOTION — A PARTISAN IN- 
SULT AT HOME — THIRTY DAYS LEAVE OF ABSENCE REELEC- 
TION SHERMAN AT SAVANNAH AN OLD-FASHIONED BATTLE AT 

NARROWSBURG VICTORY JOINS SHERMAN — THE GENERAL RE- 
TURNS HOME. 

Mr. Harrison alw^ays possessed the qualities of leadership, 
namely, the warmth of good-fellowship, and the spirit of disci- 
pline. As to the first, no boy or man who was ever with 
him long would fail to find it, and feel its glow and influence. 
But there was one quality he possessed, as grand and noble as 
any other, which, however, prevented the display of his warm- 
heartedness and friendship when there was no apparent occasion 
for them. This quality he inherited largely from his mother. 
It was what maybe called " singleness of mind in study." 
From both ancestral branches he inherited the power to think. 
From his mother came not only a quiet, thoughtful disposition. 



88 THE LIFE OF 

but the power of concentration — of forgetting all else but his 
subject, and giving the whole force of his mind to that. A nat- 
ural and persistent student, this quality manifested itself more 
than any other. Hence to the more communicative he some- 
times seemed cold, until he woke from his meditations. 
Then the more communicative always made a discovery — of 
a warm heart, communicative power, a good nature, a genial 
spirit, an enthusiasm and a power that won the lasting friend- 
ship of the man or boy. 

As to the spirit of discipline, it was first manifested in his 
own yielding to it. He who loves discipline, loves it in his 
own life and affairs. To apply himself, to be regular in 
his habits, to submit himself to rules, were all natural to him. 
Oi'der was a law of his mind. Add to this the study and the 
practical discipline of years, and we have all the conditions 
but one of the thorough soldier ; for even courage is a nat- 
ural concomitant of these qualities. 

That one condition is the occasion ; and when the occa- 
sion came, the soldier, Benjamin Harrison, chafed until he 
was free to use his abilities for his country. His patriotism 
was unbounded. Indignation for the insults that had been 
heaped on his country was burning within him ; and the fact 
that he did not burst away from all restraint, and leave his 
wife and infant children to suffer alone, and involve himself 
in the complications of a broken contract, when he did not be- 
lieve the government was in such serious danger but that the 
rebellion could be shortly put down by those who had gone, 
and were going, whose circumstances made it less of a sacri- 
fice, shows the control he had over himself. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 89 

So the call of May 3d went by ; then those of July zzd and 
^5th. Hope had risen as battles one after another had been 
fought, though now and then the Confederates were success- 
ful. But such battles as those of Philippi and Carrick's 
seemed to indicate what the Union arms might do in a decis- 
ive engagement. The defeat in the battle of Carthage, in 
Missouri, seemed small in comparison with the indications that 
the Union soldiers were about to be victorious. So great was 
this confidence everywhere that the call for the " decisive 
battle" went over the land in the cry, " On to Richmond ! " 

Mr. Harrison shared this confidence, and was impatient ; 
but he knew enough to understand that decisive battles cannot 
be called at once. Still, as the armies took up the march from 
Washington and Alexandria, as premature as the movement 
was, even such men as Harrison were yet hopeful. Then 
came that dreadful disaster at Bull Run, which threw the 
country into gloom, and stopped the clamor of over-enthusi- 
asts and complainers in the North. Mr. Harrison Jiad not 
been among the over-enthusiasts nor the complainers, but he 
felt the keen sorrow that came to every loyal heart, and the 
bitter disappointment at the result ; yet it did not shake his 
faith in what the Northern arms could do. 

When the call for 500,000 came, there was such a generous 
response that instead of 500,000 there were nearly 700,000 
soldiers enlisted. The rebellion had grown to enormous pro- 
portions, but few could realize that it was so well organized. 
Surely 700,000 faithful soldiers would be sufficient, even if 
three years were consumed in planning and executing. 

So the summer and autumn went on, with varying success. 



90 THE LIFE OF 

The engagements were generally between insignificant forces, 
as to numbers, and not comparatively important, though there 
were a few exceptions, notably the victory of Forts Hatteras 
and Clark, the defeat at Lexington, Missouri, and others. 
The winter and spring witnessed several more important battles. 
But the vastness of the rebel preparations began to be manifest, 
and also the measures necessary to overcome the rebel forces. 
The meaning of the intrigues of the preceding years began to 
be seen. A sense of the depth of the Southern purpose began 
to be felt. The embarrassments thrown in the way of the gov- 
ernment previous to the attack on Fort Sumter began to reflect 
the shadow of the planning that had had its origin years before, 
while the Southern leaders were professing love for the Union. 

The condition of affairs before Richmond was not flattering 
to the North. The Union was apparently in as much danger 
as ever. The desperation of the South would allow no yield- 
ing until their last hope was gone. But the indignation of the 
North, raised as the disclosures went on, had lulled for a time. 
A sort of apathy seemed to succeed its early outcry — the nat- 
ural reaction from the intense excitement of the first months 
of the war. 

Then came the call of the 3d of July, 1862, for "300,000 
more." In many quarters there was awakening ; but in Indi- 
ana there was apparently but little response. Governor Mor- 
ton had by no means given up hope of raising the share allotted 
to the State, but he was half discouraged — at least sad at the 
apathy. While he was one day in his oflice, at this time, he 
was called on by Benjamin Harrison and William Wallace. A 
cousin of the latter desired a position of second lieutenant in 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 91 

one of the new regiments. The governor called them into a 
back room, and closed the door. 

" Gentlemen," said he, " there is absolutely no response to 
Mr. Lincoln's last call for troops. The people do not appear 
to realize the necessities of the situation. Something must be 
done to break the spirit of apathy and indifference which now 
prevails. See here ! Look at those workmen across the 
street, toiling to put up a new building, as if such things could 
be possible when the country itself is in danger of destruction." 

Mr. Harrison was a man whose patriotism had never flagged. 
The interest of such a man does not depend upon popular 
excitement, and is not subject to the law of reaction. The 
strain upon his good reasons for staying at home had been 
heavy and constant. He now saw the real situation, and he 
knew that his duty to his country, in this extremity, outweighed 
his duty to his loved ones and his home. Before, this had not 
been the case, so far as the views commonly held were con- 
cerned. But when it came to the point that his country 
needed him at a special post for a special emergency, he could 
not feel that others ought to bear his burden. Besides, he 
could not now say that " the war will soon end, and there are 
more than enough to end it propitiously." That hope had 
fled. There was a call for troops, and the call was now for 
any who were willing to sacrifice ; and he was willing. He 
said to the governor that he would help to raise the quota for 
the State, and he was certain he could raise a regiment. 

"I feel certain you can," said Morton; " but I would not 
ask you to do more than that. I know your situation, and 
would not think of asking you to go yourself." 



92 THE LIFE OF 

This was the feeling of a heart as loyal as any in the North 
as to Mr. Harrison's situation and his duty with reference to 
going. 

" No," said Mr. Harrison. " If I make a recruiting speech, 
and ask any man to enlist, I propose to go with him, and stay 
with him as long as he stays, if I live so long;" 

"'Well," said Mr. Morton, "you can command the regi- 
ment." 

" I don't know that I shall want to," replied Mr. Harrison. 
"I have no military experience. We can see about that." 

He went out with Mr. Wallace, and the two proceeded 
along the street. He went into a store and bought a military 
cap. He advertised a meeting at Masonic Hall. He hired a 
drummer and fifer, and stationed them before his law otiice. 
He hung out the American flag from his window. He con- 
verted his office into a recruiting station. 

The city woke from its lethargy. Military caps appeared 
here and there, as if by magic. Very soon Company A, of 
the Seventieth Indiana, was made up. The meeting at the 
Masonic Hall v/as successful, and so wxre all Mr. Harrison's 
efforts. In an exceedingly short time the whole Seventieth 
Regiment was made up, and Mr. Harrison was placed at the 
head as its colonel. Within a month after he received his 
recruiting commission, on the 14th of July, he was with his 
regiment in Kentucky, ready for action. 

Thus it was that the man who, because he had not been of 
the demonstrative tempei-ament at the first, and had felt it his 
duty to remain at home, was the first man who could be 
depended on when the gloomiest hour came. Upon him fell 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 93 

the task of bringing back the enthusiasm of the people. He 
did not hesitate a moment when his duty hay clear before him. 
He did not, at that time, even consult with his wife. He went 
straight from the governor's office to find his military cap, the 
fife and drum, the hand-bills for the meeting and to swing 
out the stars and stripes. 

His wife knew nothing of all this, until he went home at the 
regular hour, and told her. But she had never hindered him 
in any duty of his life ; she would not hinder him now. She 
grave him her blessing;. And when he left her for the field the 
tears and words at parting showed what a sacrifice she had 
made. He left his business affairs in good hands, and in as 
good shape as was possible. And when he was ordered to 
the front, he obeyed with as clear a conscience as he ever had 
in his life. 

The Seventieth Indiana was composed of men without train- 
ing or knowledge in military affairs. Colonel Harrison at once 
set about the task of drilling them. Every possible opportun- 
ity he put them under drill, and all his spare time was spent in 
studying military tactics. 

When they arrived in Louisville, whither they had been has- 
tened, they were scarcely able to load their Springfield and 
Enfield muzzle-loaders. It is said that Colonel Harrison or- 
dered them to load in the depot before boarding the train for 
Bowling Green. They began to show to the rebel sympathiz- 
ers standing about how awkward they were, and so received 
the sneers of the throng. Some of them attempting to drive 
down too much paper with their balls, found the balls wedged 
half-way down the barrels of their guns. They had recourse 



94 THE LIFE OF 

to the walls of the depot, against which they hammered the 
ends of the steel ramrods to drive down the balls. But at last 
they were on the train ; and it was not many hours before they 
were in Bowling Green. 

Colonel Harrison's regiment was at once assigned to the First 
(Ward's) Brigade of the Third Division of the Twentieth Army 
Corps. He began drilling his men again, and getting them 
ready for whatever service might be required of them. And 
this practice he kept up at every opportunity during his entire 
service, so that no troops were better in discipline than his. 
He also sought to advance himself in the science and art of 
war, for he felt in this, as well as in everything else he was 
ever called to do, that his duty was not done if energy at the 
supreme moment was not accompanied with all the knowledge 
and skill it had been possible for him to acquire. He sat up 
late at night, when possible, studying tactics, and during the 
day, when he could, kept his men under constant drill, per- 
fecting them for more dangerous work. This was also par- 
ticularly fortunate, as it was all needed for their hard and bril- 
liant service afterwards. 

It fell to the lot of the Seventieth Indiana — the first in the 
field in response to the July call — to be sent for some months' 
skirmishing through Kentucky and Tennessee, as a part of the 
Army of the Cumberland. Why this was done may not be 
known. It has been attributed to lack of sagacity on the part 
of the brave general under whom Harrison and his men were 
placed. In any case, these marches and skirmishes were 
not unimportant, and the service was not light. It was also a 
school for the regiment. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 95 

At last the Union armies of the West began to gather at 
Chattanooga. General Grant had been appointed lieutenant- 
general of all the armies, and had gone to the Potomac. Gen- 
eral Sherman had taken command of the consolidated 
Western armies. For a time Nashville, Tennessee, was his 
headquarters and the base of operations, but it was not to re- 
main so long. The rebel stronghold had been at Chattanooga, 
but the terrible battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga had 
, succeeded in dislodging them from it, and cooping up the 
Union forces there instead. Afterwards had come Sher- 
I man's reinforcements, and the brilliant storming and captur- 
j ing of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge ; and thus 
j Chattanooga had been made secure for occupancy by the Union 
troops, and important as the starting-point for a great cam- 
paign. Thence Sherman had gone down into Mississippi, cap- 
turing artillery and ammunition, destroying arsenals and rail- 
roads, and other things that had strengthened the rebel hands. 
But before that memorable march began, the sad news was 
carried to the soldier in the field that Grandmother Harrison 
was dead. On the 25th of February, at the residence of 
her son, John Scott Harrison, near North Bend, Ohio, she 
had quietly laid down the burdens of a long and useful earthly 
life, and found the rest that remains for the faithful. Thus 
passed away the consort of William Henry Harrison, the sharer 
of his labors, his studies, his faith, and his successes and joys 
oflife. 

She was the last personal representative, in that family, of 
the early history of Indiana and Ohio, of the principles and is- 
sues based upon them that stirred the western heart and estab- 



96 THE LIFE OF 

lished the earnest and honest patriotism that has since charac- 
terized that part of our country. To her influence had been 
due the conservation of the principles of 1840 in the Harrison 
home. To her influence had been due, not a little, the instill- 
ing into the heart of the boy Ben the American principles that 
had now given to our army the manly and brave soldier and 
colonel, Benjamin Harrison, She could now lie down to rest 
with the sweet consciousness that the grand American ciuali- 
ties of her husband flourished yet in the life of her grandson. 

The 7th of May, 1864, came. The armies moved out 
100,000 strong. The divisions were commanded by Generals 
Thomas, McPherson, and Schofield. The boys began 
" Marching through Georgia." General Thomas' division, to 
which the Twentieth Army Corps belonged, had been massed 
at Ringgold, but was now before the rocky cliffs of Rocky 
Face, upon which Johnston had strongly fortified himself to 
dispute the passage of our armies through Buzzard Roost Gap 
below. On the Sth of May occurred the assault upon Rocky 
Face Ridge, and the terrible carnage that followed. 

Then Johnston suddenly discovered that the wily general of 
the Union forces had been sending a division through .Snake 
Creek Gap, some distance south, to the rear, and was threat- 
ening the railroad and Resaca. General Johnston withdrew 
from his works on Rocky Face, and quickly intrenched him- 
self at Resaca. 

Around Resaca, which was a small town on the Oostanula 
River, were hills, swamps, ravines, and the densest of thickets. 
All this ground was familiar to the enemy, while it was a 



I 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 97 

strange land to the Union men. On the 15th of May the 
attack was made. 

Perched on the crest of a hill that commanded the approach 
to the town, were rebel batteries that poured incessant fire 
into the Union ranks. It became positively necessary to silence 
them, but it would require brave men and a desperate struggle 
to do it. The order came to General Ward, of the First Bri- 
gade, and was repeated to Colonel Harrison. 

Between the brigade and the batteries was a dense pine 
thicket and then a quarter of a mile of open field, so that Colo- 
nel Harrison knew nothing of the position of the enemy he 
was to charge. But he commanded his officers to dismount, 
and did so himself, as he knew it would be impossible to 
charge through that thicket on horseback. Then he said to 
the aide-de-camp who brought the order : 

" You are familiar with the ground outside. I am not. 
Will you go ahead with me alone and show me this battery? 
For if I were to charge out now, I would be as apt to charge 
flank on to it as any other way." 

The two had not proceeded far when a puff" of smoke from 
the hill-crest, and the report which followed, indicated the 
position of the battery, and the ball screaming by, emphasized 
the importance of the order. Colonel Harrison instantly waved 
his sword to his men, and called in a voice that caught the ear 
and heart of every man within its reach : 

" Come on, boys!" 

Instantly four regiments came pouring after him. They 
crashed into the thicket and tore along, shouting meanwhile, 
and crying "forward !" to each other, all in the wildest disor- 
7 . 



98 THE LIFE OF 

der — for it was impossible to preserve the lines in that tangled 
underwood. All were full of the spirit of their leader. 
They soon emerged from the wood, and followed him on 
double-quick toward the hill, shouting in a way that meant 
death to the Confederates. It is seldom a command pro- 
duces such effect so instantaneously as did that call "Come 
on, boys ! " attended as it was by the flash of the sword and 
the ready attitude of the man. The Confederates saw it 
and felt it, and in desperation poured a murderous fire into 
the advancing columns. Shot and shell flew thick about the 
brave leader, and his men were falling fast. Still he went on, 
and had it not been for the spirit that seemed to go from him 
to his followers, one might have thought he was courting death, 
or shielding his brave men from it. 

They rushed on under the savage fire ; and only the roar of 
cannons and muskets, the cries of wounded and dying, the 
shouts of brave, determined men, and the dense smoke that 
hovered over and amidst them in clouds and hid the sight from 
heaven, might indicate that the battle was going on, until the 
outer Confederate lines were reached ; then they leaped over the 
breastworks, and, hand-to-hand, they grappled with the desper- 
ate defenders. The cold steel bayonets shone no longer in sun- 
light. Muskets were clubbed — only pistol reports were heard 
above the din. Then all the enemy that were left in the outer 
works were taken prisoners. 

But the work was apparently not half done, and that com- 
mander never left any work of his in that condition. The bat- 
tery was still at the crest, and there was an impassable line of 
brushwood and stakes below it. Night fell, and the men were 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 99 

still busy. They were digging into the hill-side, and up to- 
ward the enemy's guns. If the enemy were feeling secure for 
a time, behind the barrier, and at all satisfied at the havoc made 
in the Union ranks — for fully a third of those brave soldiers lay 
wounded, dying, and dead on the field — evidently, also, a 
counter feeling of uneasiness rested upon them, for the spirit 
with which the assault had been made, and the contest kept up, 
and the carrying of their outer lines, meant that the Union colo- 
nel and his soldiers did not intend to be thwarted. 

The tunnels broke through the hill behind the works. The 
guns were lowered into them. And when the morning came, 
and General Sherman looked to see the battle for the hill-top 
to be renewed, lo ! the work was done — the enemy had with- 
drawn. 

Thus did Colonel Harrison perform his duty at Resaca. He 
illustrated in his strict obedience how a man can be a free and 
independent man, untrammeled in his thouglits and resources, 
and still obey. His enthusiasm, his making the cause his own, 
his fertility of method in carrying out, all showed him the 
grand man that he was. 

Johnston withdrew his forces across the Oostanula, and the 
victorious Union soldiers marched into Resaca, with their pris- 
oners and captured guns. In a few days Johnston was fol- 
lowed by our armies, which began to concentrate about Adairs- 
ville and Cassville, while he took his stand down on the Etow 
River. After some skirmishing, however, he crossed that river 
and went on to Allatoona Pass and Pumpkinvine Creek. At 
both those points, and also at Dallas, his men were the greater 
sufferers. 



loo THE LIFE OF 

Thus the advance toward Atlanta went on until Sherman 
came to the mountains that sheltered Marietta, He soon had 
Fine and Lost Mountains for his trophies, and on the 27th of 
June made a vigorous assault on Kenesa^^' Mountain, where 
Johnston was now intrenched behind brushwood, fallen trees, 
natural barriers, and works that had taken six months to make 
almost impregnable. This was the "citadel" of Marietta. 
On July 2d, another assault was made and then Sherman 
began moving his forces south toward the Chattahoochie, 
when Johnston hastened from his now useless fortress to inter- 
cept the way to Atlanta. So our troops marched into Mari- 
etta. 

After some days, during which the two armies were camped, 
one on each side of the Chattahoochie. while, for a time, it 
was dangerous for a soldier to venture from behind the works 
on either side, our forces succeeded in crossing. But bloody 
days awaited them before the few miles to Atlanta could be 
compassed. 

In the hard fighting of the previous days. Colonel Harrison 
and his i-egiment had been conspicuous. He was in the corps 
commanded by General Joe Hooker, which led the " march to 
the sea," and was therefore the first in the assaults. He was 
in the Third Division, commanded by General Thomas, and 
that division became famous for its bravery and successes, as it 
was always at the front. He was in the First Brigade, under 
Ward, which consisted of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth 
Illinois, One Hundred and Fifth Illinois, Seventy-ninth Ohio, 
and the Seventieth Indiana, and which did most valiant ser- 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. loi 

vice in the van of our victorious Western armies in those 
days. 

His character, in those trying times, stood every test. On 
the field he was the same as at home, around his fireside, or 
in his church. No better testimony can be given to the char- 
acter of any soldier or commander than this, given by one of 
those who followed him in those dark days : 

" One scene has always lived in my memory. Our old 
chaplain, Allen, a man who was beloved by all the boys, and 
for whom almost every man in the regiment would have given 
his life, conducted service on Sunday with Colonel Harrison, 
as he was then, and Lieutenant-Colonel Sam Merrill assist- 
ing. I have often heard General Harrison offer up the prayer 
for the boys' welfare and protection down there on those South- 
ern fields, so far away from home, and many times have heard 
him address the boys in place of the chaplain. Never, to my 
knowledge, in all the trying times of war, did I ever see one 
thing from him unbecoming a Christian. I think tlie bat- 
tle-field and the camp bring out what there is in a man about 
as well as anything can, and I have seen General Harrison 
tested in every way. As a soldier, courageous, sympathetic, 
and enduring, the army had no better." 

His care and sympathy for the boys won all their hearts. 
He never took authority over them that did not belong to him. 
Many instances could be related of his generous and sympa- 
thetic help which he rendered to the sick, or wounded, or 
dying. One or two must suffice at this point. 

In the battle of Chickamauga, a captain in the Seventy-ninth 
Indiana Volunteers was seriously wounded. Colonel Harrison 



I02 THE LIFE OF 

informed the captain's brother, a sergeant, of it, and ordered him 
to report at headquarters. The colonel had his own horse 
saddled, and telling the sergeant to mount, he bade him hasten 
to his brother. In a short time Colonel Harrison followed, 
and going up to the wounded man, he greeted him sympa- 
thetically, and said : 

" Captain, you are badly wounded, and must get home. 
You have been at the front, and of course have no money. 
Here is a hundred dollars ; take it, and get home." 

At another time Colonel Harrison found a soldier — a total 
stranger — on the field, seriously wounded. He told him to 
go to the hospital, and then added : " You will need money 
— here is twenty dollars." 

A time was now coming when these rare qualities of the 
colonel were to be manifested again ; but before that time there 
was to be another terrible struggle. 

General Johnston had been removed from the command of 
the Southern army at Atlanta, and General Hood had been 
appointed in his place. The rebels now made every possible 
effort to save the city. They sallied out at unexpected moments ; 
they harassed our troops in almost every quarter ; they 
brought on many and serious skirmishes. From the time 
Sherman's men stepped upon the southern bank of the Chat- 
tahoochie until the fall of Atlanta, blood scarcely ceased to 
flow. 

On July 20th, during the hard-fought battle at Peach 
Tree Creek, the same signal courage, valor, and judgment that 
had shown themselves in Colonel Harrison at Resaca. were 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 103 

again displayed. While he was holding his forces in reserve, 
not thinking that immediate service would be demanded of 
them, and yet ready for an}' warning, he ordered them to stack 
their arms. A skirmish line was sent out, and the brigade 
was busy at dinner ; suddenly they heard firing, and looking 
up they saw upon a hill, some distance away, the men of the 
skirmish line waving their caps, and heard their shouts for 
assistance. A large detachment of Hood's forces was over 
beyond the hill. It would not do to let them come over 
and attack him at the foot of the hill. Not an instant was to 
be lost. The battle might depend upon him. General Hooker 
was already sorely pressed. Colonel Harrison did not wait 
for orders. He swung himself into line before his men, and 
cried : 

"Come on, boys! We've never been licked yet, and we 
won't begin now. We haven't much ammunition, but if nec- 
essary we can give them the cold steel, and before we get 
licked we will club them down ; so come on." 

Tliey charged up the hill after " Little Ben," getting ready 
as they ran. They were joined by the skirmish line, eager for 
the fray. Just over the hill, among the trees, and behind a 
rail fence, they saw the Confederates crouching like tigers. 
They charged on them, and for half an hour there was hot and 
terrible fighting. Finally the Confederate force was repulsed. 
But the gallant brigade lost 250 men in that short thirty 
minutes. This was the decisive stroke ; and the day was 
soon won. 

The next day the fiery General Hooker rode the lines, and 



I04 THE LIFE OF 

seeing Harrison, he called out with an oath that he would 
have him made a brigadier-general for yesterday's work. 

Later General Hooker was as good as his word. Before 
many months he sent the following letter to Washington : 



HEAOqUARTERS NORTHERN DEPARTMENT, 

Cincinnati, O., Oct. 31, 1864. 



Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War: 

I desire to call the attention of the Department to the claims of 
Col. Benjamin Harrison, of the Seventieth Indiana Volunteers, for 
promotion to the rank of brigadier-general volunteers. 

Colonel Harrison first joined me in command of a brigade of 
Ward's division in Lookout Valley, preparatory to entering upon what 
is called the Campaign of Atlanta. My attention was first attracted to 
this young officer by the superior excellence of his brigade in discipline 
and instruction, the result of his labor, skill, and devotion. With more 
foresight than I have witnessed in any officer of his experience, he 
seemed to act upon the principle that success depended upon the 
thorough preparation in discipline and esprit of his command for con- 
flict more than on any influence that could be exerted in the field itself, 
and when collision came his command vindicated his wisdom as much 
as his valor. In all the achievements of the Twentieth Corps in that 
campaign. Colonel Harrison bore a conspicuous part. At Resaca and 
Peach Tree Creek, the conduct of himself and command were especi- 
ally distinguished. Colonel Harrison is an officer of superior abilities 
and of great professional and personal worth. It gives me great favor 
to commend him favorably to the Honorable Secretai-y, with the assur- 
ance that his preferment will be a just recognition of his services and 
martial accomplishments. 

Very respectfully, jour obedient servant, 

Joseph Hooker, 
Major-General Commanding. 

The justness of this high praise was fully appreciated by 



I 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 105 

the troops under Mr. Harrison, and by all his associate and 
superior officers. 

But it was not alone in the courageous charge at Peach Tree 
Creek that Colonel Harrison won glory there. He discovered, 
when the fight was over that day that his surgeon and assis- 
tants had by some means become entangled with another bri- 
gade, and could not get back ; and his field hospital was full of 
men — wounded and dying. He could not wait to find sur- 
geons. He took off his coat, gathered his tent, tore the latter 
into strips, and began bandaging wounds. He had words of 
cheer for every despondent wounded soldier, sympathy for his 
pain, and tenderness for his wovmds. He received dying mes- 
sages, and, in short, administered comfort wherever it was pos- 
sible. It is said that when the surgeons arrived, they found 
him, his bare arms covered with blood, still going about at- 
tending to these duties. 

This record is but in accordance with his record during his 
entire army service. 

He continued with the arniy until the fall of Atlanta, Sep- ' 
tember ist. His services were conspicuous for their bravery 
and valor. He never dishonored the record made at Resaca 
and Peach Tree Creek. Moreover, he was popular with offi- 
cers and privates. He knew " the boys," and never, except in 
the performance of official duty, assumed to be in any way 
above them. 

Up to the fall of Atlanta, Colonel Harrison had asked no 
leave of absence, but had remained at his ^Dost, ready for any 
orders. But about this time he heard from his friends in Indi- 
ana, that he had been nominated again for reporter of the 



io6 THE LIFE OF 

Supreme Court. Ordinarily perhaps, he might not have con- 
sidered this a good reason for returning home. But during ! 
his absence, he had received a wanton insult from the Demo-i 
cratic Supreme Court in Indiana, in their declaring the office^ 
of reporter vacant, and electing another to the position, solely 
because the rightful official was fighting the battles of his coun- 
try. It was natural that he should want to give a proper 
rebuke to that spirit, and assert himself by securing an election 4 
aga in. 

So he obtained leave for thirty days' absence, and receiving 
orders from the War Department to report to Governor Mor- 
ton, he returned to Indianapolis. Glad indeed was he to see his 
wife and children, and they were rejoiced to see him again. | 
After a short rest at home with them, he began a vigorous can- i 
vass for the reporter's office. Nor did he forget the issue of| 
the general campaign as he made his speeches. He forgot, ', 
rather, his special purpose in coming home. 

But that purpose was accomplished, nevertheless, he receiv- 
ing a handsome majority over his opponent. To his infiuence,,j 
also, was due, in no small degree, the large majority which a 
Indiana gave to Lincoln in the succeeding November. 

After his election, he returned to the seat of war. Soon {i| 
after the November election came the fall of Savannah. The 
expedition of Sherman was terminating gloriously. Hardee 
and his rebel troops evacuated the city on the night of the 
2oth of November. Sherman brought with him into the 
city i,ooo prisoners, 150 cannons, 190 railroad cars, twelve 
locomotives, much ammunition, three steamers, 32,000 bales 
of cotton, and 15,000 slaves. These things had been gathered 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 107 

along the route from Chattanooga, and especially from Atlanta. 
But the hardest fighting and the most difficult marching had 
been done between these two places ; and Colonel Harrison, 
now General Harrison, had borne no small part, therefore, in 
making the expedition successful. 

Simultaneous witli the fiill of Savannah, General Hood, 
with his Confederate forces, turned backward and marched 
toward Pulaski, Tennessee. Here Generals Schofield and 
Smith were concentrating their Union forces in order to oppose 
him. Ten days after the evacuation of Savannah, the battle 
of Franklin was fought, in which the Confederates were de- 
feated with a loss, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, of more 
than five thousand. Then came the sharp conflict near Mur- 
freesboro', Tennessee, early in December ; and soon after the 
decisive battle of Nashville, on December 15th and i6th. In 
this battle General Harrison and his brigades bore a most con- 
spicuous and important part. He led in the bloody conflicts, 
and Hood was driven from Tennessee. This put an end to 
the war in that State, and practically in the West. Hence- 
forth the field was the Southern Atlantic States. 

About this time. General Harrison heard of the sickness of 
his two children with scarlet fever. He hastened home, and 
soon had the satisfaction of witnessing their recovery. He 
then received orders to join Sherman, who was yet in Savan- 
nah. He started, this time with his wife and children, to go 
by way of New York. On the way he himself was stricken 
down with the scarlet fever. He left the train at Narrows- 
burg, and there during the coldest of the New York winter, 
lie fousfht the disease in the old-fashioned manner. 



io8 THE LIFE OF * I 

It was a small way station, and the conveniences were few. 
His physician was seventeen miles away, and could not be in 
constant attendance. His nurse was an orderly who had at- 
tended him, and who was experienced also in nursing. But 
soon the orderly was taken down \yith the disease, and nurs- 
ing devolved upon Mrs. Harrison. No wife was ever more 
faithful, and soon by her care he was able to be up. By spring 
he was able to travel ; and was soon on the way towards North 
Carolina. ■' 

Meanwhile, Sherman had marched triumphantly from Sav-'! 
annah to Wilmington, North Carolina ; Columbia had sur-- 
rendered ; Charleston had been evacuated by the rebel forcesjj 
and the American flag waved over the ruins of Sumter. Sher--* 
man's army was coming up from the South: part from the| 
southeast, part from the victories of Nashville. Grant's army I 
was pushing the enemy from the North. It was evident that 
the end was not far off. 

General Harrison was in time to take part in the closing and 
triumphant movements of Sherman's army, and the war. On 
the 9th of April occurred the surrender of General Lee'si 
army to Grant at Appomattox. Then came the darkest — ati 
least the saddest — day of the Rebellion — the 15th of Aprill 
The evening before was heard the shot at Washington that 
rang louder than the cannons of all the battles, and on the 15th 
Abraham Lincoln, to whom, more than to any other, was duei 
the prosecution of the war to its glorious assurance of success,' 
breathed out his life. 

On the 26th of April, 1865, at Durham's Station, North 
Carolina, General Johnston surrendered to General Shermanj 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



[09 



jeneral Harrison was present on that occasion, having taken 
i part in bringing about that welcome result. Thus finally 
riumphed the Northern armies. 

It was a grand review that was held in Washington soon 
fter. Four of the darkest pages in the history of the world 
lad been written since the review there at the beginning of the 
var. Now the banners were riddled and torn, the swords were 
:)roken and stained, the guns were battered and the uniforms 
vere old, and torn, and tattered. But every thread of the old 
;iags was more sacred than the brightest flag that had ever 
loated from the dome of the Capitol. The soldiers stepped 
nore proudly than four years before ; and altogether, Washing- 
on never saw a grander sight. Nor was there a prouder 
leart there that day than that of Benjamin Harrison. 
\.nd no man stepped more gladly, for there was not a more 
oatriotic soldier, nor one who had performed a more con- 
cientious and faithful service, than he. So the soldiers 
vent home. 



Z^l^.rJ^ 





ABRAHAM LINCOLN, ^ 

THE FIRST REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Chapter VIII. 



A LAWYER OF EXPERIENCE. 

TAKES UP ROUTINE OF OFFICE OF REPORTER A VIEW OF THE SITUATION 

GENERAL HARRISON RESUMES PRACTICE OF LAW SOME NOTED 

CASES THE CHARACTER OF THE MAN — THE CITIZEN AND 

CHRISTIAN CONFIDENCE OF ASSOCIATES — FAMILY — MR. FISH- 
BACK LEAVES THE FIRM "PORTER, HARRISON & HINES " — 

"HARRISON & HINES " — "HARRISON, HINES & MILLER" — 
THE " CLEM " CASE. 

Immediately on returning home, General Harrison took up 
the routine of his office. He felt that his long absence made 
diligence more incumbent upon him — but it was only his keen 
sense of duty, and the remembrance of the situation in which 
he had left his aflairs for the army. His sensitive conscience 
was thoroughly satisfied with the course he had taken. 

In 1 86 1 and 1S63, he had kept pace with his work in the 
office. He iiad prepared volumes XV. and XVI. of reports, 
and had almost finished volume XVII. It was now like taking 
up the office for the first time, so far as the work on hand was 
concerned ; but his previous experience made it easier than 
before. 

j Notwithstanding the stormy period of the reconstruction, 
which now began, the difficult questions of finance, and 
grumbling speeches of the Democratic party — always warning 
of failures that never came — people of all parties now felt more 



112 THE LIFE OF 

secure in their homes and business than they had fehfor years. 
The shadow of the vanishing war-cloud did not depress. 
When that cloud had been looming up before the awful storm, 
no one knew what it portended. Doubt and fear were in 
every heart. Though the Northern Democrats sympathized 
with the Southern people, so far as the mere questions of the 
right of states to secede and the slavery extension were con- 
cerned, they dreaded the war and its results. Though they 
all blamed the Republican party for the war, and many of 
them sympathized outright with rebel feelings and threw the 
weight of their influence against the Northern arms, they did 
not want the w^ar in the North, and dreaded the frequent 
menacing attitude of the Southern armies toward the Northern 
States. In spite of their ungrateful professions, they now 
rejoiced in the security of a country saved by the Union sol- 
diers ; and in their hearts they felt a gratitude their prejudice 
and partyism prevented their expressing. General Harrison's 
reputation, therefore, had not really suffered with the Demo- 
crats, and w^as greater than ever with the Republicans. The 
gratitude of the latter was openly and honestly shown. The 
soldiers of Indiana all received the most cordial ovation the 
grateful people could give them. There were also other brave 
Indiana officers — captains, colonels, generals — but none of 
them were more honored than General Harrison. 

Immediately on his return he took up again the profession 
of law. A partnership was again formed with Mr. Fishback, 
this time including the Honorable A. G. Porter, and the 
name of the firm became Porter, Harrison & Fishback. There 
was not a better combination of talent in the state. Mr. Harri- 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 113 

son bore his full share of responsibility, and did his full portion 
of the work, notwithstanding his official duties. He slighted 
neither the one nor the other. It would be impossible to sup- 
pose, from the habits long formed, that he could bring himself 
to face an uncompleted task at the hour for its completion. He 
sat up many a night until near morning ; he lost not a moment 
during the day in studying his work, and he never failed to be 
ready at the appointed time- 
Some of the most noted cases before the courts of Indiana 
during the years from 1865 to 1870 had, on one side or the 
other, these lawyers ; and the best' talent of the country was 
often arrayed against them. But Mr. HaiTison and colleagues, 
if for the plaintiff, in most cases secured conviction ; if for the 
defendant, in most cases succeeded in clearing. There were 
clients that deserved conviction, and j^et deserved a full chance, 
and the best talent on their side. In such cases all was done 
for them that honest lawyers could do — frequently the lighten- 
ing of the penalty. This firm did much in allaying the 
prejudice against lawyers as a class, that existed so generally 
in Indiana. The feeling prevailed, especially among the 
poorer class of people, that all lawyers were dishonest. Such 
firms as that of Porter, Harrison & Fishback proved that the 
, honest law of demand and supply was as steady in the law- 
yer's trade as in any other. There are more men with honest 
cases than get justice. When a lawyer becomes noted for his 
faithfulness and honesty, he may refuse all dishonest clients, 
and still have more than he can attend to. 

This explains why Mr. Harrison did not become a brilliant 
meteor at the start of his profession in 1854. ^^ chose the 
8 



114 THE LIFE OF 

old-fashioned rough path of honesty, that led indeed more 
surely to success, but to success at a greater distance. He 
seemed to think this method the only one he could tolerate. 
As he avoided the path to fame that led through the heralding 
of his ancestry, so he avoided that which led through anything 
but eftbrt and genuine merit. He had, indeed, a different and 
more conscientious reason for avoiding the littleness and dis- 
honesty of pettifoggery, but it vv^as repulsive to his sense of 
independence, nevertheless. 

The lawyer in the ofhce now was not the same that was in 
the office before the war. Then the uncertain term "rising 
young lawyer " might fitly be applied to him. Now he was 
older ; his army service had given him a rugged, but valuable 
experience with men ; he had broader views of law, of politics, 
of life ; he had his past experience as a lawyer firmly set in 
memory and character. He could now, with fitness, be called 
an experienced lawyer ; and that term conveys an impression 
that he was more than a mere lawyer : he was a citizen, a 
man among men, a master of his profession. His character 
as a citizen was of the highest type. He loved his home, his 
wife, and children. He instilled into his children's hearts 
those principles of honor and integrity, without which no 
youth can grow up a benefit to others, a noble citizen. His 
home was a little republic ; and if he and his wife held the 
ruling power in their hands, they deemed that they held also 
the education, the training, and the welfare of their subjects 
in their hands. Thus educating, instilling, their commands 
became mere guides to the children's desires ; and in the 
highest sense they, in this way, represented them. There was 



! 



i 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 115 

none of that stern, rigid inforcement of rule, before the child 
was taught the meaning of the rule, or the faith and confidence 
that saw in their superior wisdom the highest reason why the 
rule should be followed. So, in his home, its organization, its 
government, its teachings, Mr. Harrison proved himself a true 
citizen of his country. 

But he did this, also, in the carrying out of his own immediate 
public duties. He was a faithful, trusty lawyer. He was faith- 
ful in his business affairs. He was a faithful friend to the 
poor. He was faithful to the needs of his town, of his county, 
of his State, ot his country. He considered himself a part of 
the city, and held himself ready to bear even more than his 
share in its service. In a like attitude he stood toward his 
country. In all his conduct toward others, he manifested no 
selfishness. But he was no fawning servant of men. He 
conformed to no unreasonable whims or demands of any class. 
He stood on his own plane, and reached down, or up, or out, 
toward others. He was himself, Benjamin Harrison, or no- 
body. He was never guilty of wearing old clothes, covered 
with dirt, having the legs of his trousers in his muddy boots, 
and hayseeds in his whiskers, on purpose to win the affec- 
tions and votes of farmers. If, for any reason, he had little 
money, and could not afford any but old clothes, and if 
tramping through mud had made it necessary to wear his 
trouser legs in his boots, and if by working, or otherwise, 
hayseeds had been scattered over him, he would not have been 
ashamed before any man, or if compelled to face it, any 
audience — for that would have been a predicament for which 
he was not to blame, and in which there was no dishonor, and 



ii6 THE LIFE OF 

he would have been himself. But if he must violate his own 
tastes for cleanliness, and change his own customs, and be what 
he was not, in order to win the farmers, or any other class, 
then he did not want their affections nor their votes. His soul 
revolted from that species of hypocrisy, as well as from all 
other species. 

He was not ashamed to be himself. Whatever his tastes, 
or opinions, or faith, he was not ashamed to own them. 
He and his family were members of the First Presbyterian 
Church, of Indianapolis, and he was always to be found at 
his post. He was one of the most faithful leaders in the 
church. He belonged to the regular officers of the church, 
and taught the large Bible class in the Sunday School. His 
manner of teaching showed his great interest in that work : 
he sought to interest every member of the class, by asking the 
questions personally, and by personal talk, and the class in 
general by illustration, and being constantly at work ; and he 
brought such thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, and 
especially of the subject of the day to his class, as showed that 
his interest extended beyond the class-room and the recitation 
hour. He was a Christian at home. He taught it to his chil- 
dren ; he practiced it in his conduct toward them, toward his 
wife, toward all guests, and in his personal life ; he never failed 
to give thanks at table, and kept up family prayers. He was 
a Christian abroad. He practiced it in his profession, and in 
all his relations to others. In other words, he was thoroughly 
unselfish in his conduct toward his God and his fellow-men — 
that was his Christianity. 

No man ever had the confidence of his associates in profes- 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 117 

sion and business, more than did Mr. Harrison, He had l)een 
tried in all his opinions, and in his integrity at every point, and 
had not failed. His magnetism was the magnetism of char- 
acter ; men were drawn to him always through the conscious- 
ness of his thorough reliability. It was liks a safe shelter 
from a storm to be in his presence and feel that here was a 
man that could be depended on. Though one might not agree 
with his opinions, yet one felt that whatever his opinions were, 
they would be carried out, and that all his conduct would be 
consistent with them. 

What has been written of him may also be written of his 
family, as to character. His faithful wife was a companion in- 
deed in his thoughts, his opinions, his methods, his religion, his 
life. As a consequence of parental influence, and partly, also 
as an inheritance, the son and daughter were of the same con- 
victions, and sincerity, and character. It was one of those 
families in which the guest has impressions of the beauty and 
sacredness of the family and the home. His son was now 
approaching the age of sixteen, when boys begin to consider 
themselves young men, and feel the restraints of home. But 
in Russell Harrison there was little of such chafing. He loved 
his home, his father, mother, and sister, and the sacred place. 
The daughter was yet scarce fourteen, but was already some- 
what educated and accomplished, though in manner and char- 
acter she was far from the premature dreams of " society." 

In 1870 Mr. Fishback left the firm to take charge of the 
Indianapolis Journal. He afterwards resigned control of that 
paper to become editor of the St. Louis Globe- Democrat. He 
left his testimony in Indiana as to the ability and honesty of 



ii8 THE LIFE OF 

General Harrison as a lawyer ; and has since, in a direct man- 
ner, testified to his high qualities. On his retirement. Judge 
Hines, a lawyer of no mean ability and reputation, entered the 
firm, which then became " Porter, Harrison & Hines." Sub- 
sequently Mr. Porter retired from the firm, which continued 
until 1874 as "Harrison & Hines." In that year Mr. Miller 
joined the firm, and it was " Harrison, Hines & Miller." Mr. 
Porter also bore testimony to the high character and worth, 
and to the great abilities as a lawyer, of his partner. General 
Harrison. The following words of Mr. Porter refer both to 
his early and his subsequent career as a lawyer : " Amplitude 
of preparation, large views of questions, the widest knowledge 
of his profession that could be acquired in such a time, dis- 
tinguished him, and he rose rapidly in his profession." The 
following testimony of Mr, Porter, applies to Mr. Harrison's 
ability as an orator in politics, as well as at the bar : " With all 
his eloquence as an orator, he never spoke for oratorical effect ; 
his words always went like a bullet to the mark. He reminds 
one of the saying of the great Irish orator and patriot, O'Con- 
nell, that a good speech is a good thing, but the verdict is the , 
thing. He therefore always pierced the core of every ques- 
tion that he discussed, and in every contest in which he was 
engaged he fought to win." Again, said Mr. Porter of him : 
" He is in every respect a complete lawyer." 

Further testimony may be given. A gentleman of large 
Jegal attainments, and years of practical observation, once said 
of Mr. Harrison : " His power to go through a case beats any 
man's I ever saw. He will take the testimony of a case stretch- 
ing over days, or weeks, and will sift every particle of evidence 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 119 

pertaining to the vai'ious heads to which it belongs, according 
to the points or plans of battle he has laid out. Everything 
pro and co7t^ by every witness, is thus grouped, and the whole 
marshaled in order — as one might say, by division, brigade, 
regiment, company, and all bearing down on the assault." 
Said another lawyer of ability and experience, concerning 
him: "I have not often seen Harrison equaled as a cross- 
examiner, and I have never seen but one instance in which I 
thought him surpassed." Another witness testifies: " He is 
regarded by his fellow-members of the Indiana bar, irrespect- 
ive of party, as a judicious counsellor, an able advocate, a 
keen cross-examiner, and a man of indefatigable industry. He 
is full of resource. He never says anything imprudent himself, 
but he is quick as lightning to catch at the imprudence of an 
opponent. Yet, with all his skill, he has never been accused 
of unfairness." The testimony of his partner, JMr. Miller, 
will be sufficient to complete the list : " General Harrison is 
always cool and level-headed. He never loses his balance. 
He is always, under the most trying circumstances, self-pos- 
sessed and of unshaken poise. He is most thorough in his pre- 
paration, always making himself complete master of a case. 
He is a most searching and efficient cross-examiner, and yet he 
is always quiet and pleasant, as if in ordinary conversation. 
He never bull-dozes, and I have never heard of a witness who 
called him discourteous." 

His reputation as a cross-examiner is merited. It is said 
that on once being asked by a student to define the theory of 
cross-examination, he replied. " It is the application of logic 
to an illogical mind." His success in that line, therefore, was 



I20 THE LIFE OF 

due, not to the entanglement of witnesses, but to his marking 
out the logical lines, and so hedging them about that witnesses 
would be compelled to follow them. 

Instances may be given, showing how others not lawyers 
regarded his ability. In a certain case, near the beginning of 
his i:)ractice, he was opposed by a number of old and able law- 
yers. An Irishman, who was keenly observing the trial, said : 
" I loike that little Harrison. He has so many ways. When 
they bate ' im wan way, he bates them anoother way ; and they 
can't cahner ' im at all, at all !" And the qualities he had 
when a young lawyer, he now manifested in a greater degree. 

A poor German laborer once brought a case to Mr. Harri- 
son, who undertook it for him, carried it through several trials, 
and on the appeal of the opposition to the Supreme Court, 
won it there ; all at great expense of time and money. The 
German paid the fee as agreed ; and Mr. Harrison was satis- 
fied. But the client, who was a cabinet-maker, built a very 
costly book-case and presented it to his lawyer, in testimony 
of his appreciation of his ability and his gratefulness for what 
had been done for him. 

One of the most prominent cases of the period now under 
considerattion, was what was known as the " Mulligan Case. " 
The plaintiff had been charged with treason, brought before a 
military commission, tried and acquitted. They then brought 
suit for damages in the United States Court. But they found 
opposed to them, conducting the defense for the State, General 
Harrison, who, by his manner of conducting it, and especially 
his great speech on May 22, 1871, cut down their " damages " 
to one cent and costs. 



I 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 121 

But perhaps a more noted case was that of Nancy E. Clem, 
which began the same year. This woman had deliberately 
plotted and carried out the murder of a man named Young, 
under circumstances of the most horrifying barbarity, but also 
of some mystery. She had accomplished this murder in 1868, 
at a lonely place called Cold Spring, not far from Indianapolis. 
On the second indictment, on wliich Mr. Harrison was called 
for the prosecution, the defense pleaded acquittal on the 
former indictment, but the State demurred, the demurrer was 
sustained, and the defendant pleaded not guilty, and filed an 
exception. As a result of this, and several subsequent trials, 
through the efforts of General Harrison, she was sentenced for 
life to the State prison. 

By a change of venue, the case was taken from Marion to 
Boone County, and tried at Lebanon before Judge Davidson. 
This circvunstance, \vith others attending it, and the peculiar 
circumstances of the murder, and the plea of former acquittal, 
made this, jDcrhaps, the most celebrated murder case Indiana 
ever had. 

An incident of the first trial shows what complete mastery 
Mr. Harrison always had of his subjects, how he took his 
cases thoroughly in hand, how he knew confidently from the 
first the winning course, and how, in this case, he manifested 
a tact and shrewdness far beyond those of one lawyer of much 
larger experience, and at that time of greater reputation — 
Daniel W. Voorhees. In stating the case. Lawyer Harrison 
boldly^outlined the whole theory of the prosecution. In this 
he manifested such apparent lack of policy, and so apparently 



122 BENJAMIN HARRISON. 

put the case in the hands of the defense, that Mr. Voorhees 
was highly elated. 

"Harrison is a very able lawyer," said Mr. Voorhees, 
" but he is over- rated. He has laid himself open here — given 
his case away in the start." 

"Don't be too sure," was the reply of a friend. "He 
knows what he is about." 

"You will see," said Mr. Voorhees. 

But the case went on, and Mr. Harrison listened carefully 
to the masterly speech of Mr. Voorhees, and took notes. 
When he arose for the closing argument, he took these points, 
one by one, and exposed them in the light of the theory of the 
prosecution which he had been so careful to state. This was 
another time in his life when Mr. Harrison taught Mr. Voor- 
hees, to that gentleman's cost, that Mr. Voorhees had far 
under-rated Mr. Harrison. 

There was at one time a noted and very important case 
before the United States Court at Chicago. Associated with 
Mr. Harrison in the case was George Hoadly, recently the 
governor of Ohio. On account of being compelled to leave, 
Mr. Harrison had the privilege of the first speech, which he 
delivered, and immediately after which he retired from the 
court-room. Mr. Hoadly then withdrew from the argument, 
signifying that Mr. Harrison had so thoroughly done the work 
that nothing more in that line was necessary. 



Chapter IX. 



VICTORY IN DEFEAT. 

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1S76 — THE NATIONAL CANDIDATES — BEFORE AND 
AFTER THE CRISIS OF 1873 — THE CAMPAIGN IN INDIANA — THE 
CORRUPTION FUND — THE STATE TICKET — A CHANGE — A POPULAR 
DEMAND — TASK NO OTHER COULD FILL — AN ENERGETIC CANVASS 

INCIDENTS "COME ON, BOYS ! " THE RESULT A VICTORY IN 

DEFEAT — ACQUAINTANCE IN THE STATE — IN DEMAND FOR THE 
GENERAL CAMPAIGN. 

In 1875, the friends of General Harrison began to urge him 
to make the race for governor of Indiana the following year. 
In answ^er to a letter from the Honorable L. M. Campbell, 
insisting that the State had claims upon him, and asking that 
he permit his name to be used, he wrote the following reply, 
which shows not only the lack of office-seeking qualities in 
him, but his patriotism : 

Honorable L. M. Campbell, Danville, Ind. 

My Dear Sir: Your letter of the 25th ultimo has remained 
unanswered until now for want of earlier leisure. After a careful con- 
sideration of the matter in every view in which it has presented itself, 
I have arrived at this conclusion, viz. : To decline to allow mj name 
to go before the convention in connection with the nomination for 
governor. In announcing this conclusion, 1 have only one regret, and 
that is the temporary disappointment of some very warm personal 
friends, among the oldest and most partial of whom I reckon jourself. 
To these, and to the somewhat wider circle of political friends who 



124 



THE LIFE OF 



have with great kindness urged me to be a candidate, I feel under a 
very real obligation. Some of the reasons which have led me to this 
conclusion are already known to you. I need only say here that my 
personal aifairs are not in a situation to make it wise for me to abandon 
the pursuit of my profession to engage in such a canvass. You will 
not think that I am without a proper sense of public obligation, or 
devoid of interest in the success of the Republican party. If any 
should so think, the time I have given to the public service, and 
the humble part I have taken in every political campaign since i860, 
must witness for me. In every important campaign which our State 
convention will inaugurate, I hope to have some part; but you must 
allow me to follow, not to lead. 

It could hardly be possible that the party who has rejected the 
greatest idea of our immortal declaration — the equality of all men 
before the law — and has denied the right to preserve by force the 
national unity, will, in this year of great memories, be called to 
administer our national affairs. 

Please accept for yourself, and for all those who have united in 

your request, my thanks and good wishes. 

Very sincerely yours, 

Benjamin Harrison. 
Indianapolis, December i, 1875. 

The year of 1876 was, in many respects, a most remarkable 
political year. The candidates for the national offices were, 
on the Republican side, Rutherford B. Hayes and William A. 
Wheeler ; and on the Democratic side, Samuel J. Tilden and 
Thomas A. Hendricks. In addition, there was a Greenback 
ticket with General J. B. Weaver for President, and Samuel 
Carey for Vice-President. 

The Greenback movement in the West was very strong that 
year ; and it was drawing most of its voters from the Repub- 
lican ranks. There was great fear that the proposed resump- 



I 
I 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 125 

tion of specie payment would bring disaster upon the country. 
It was at a time of great financial depression — one of the 
closing years of gloom following the financial crash of 1S73. 
The excitement in Indiana was especially great. It was also 
the year preceding the great strikes and the riots, that 
threatened destruction to railroad and other property, and even 
to the lives of peaceful citizens ; and already, the designing 
mob-leaders were fanning the flames of discontent, while 
unfortunate hot-headed men, more innocent than the leaders, 
were suffering themselves to be drawn into the vortex of law- 
lessness. 

Some special facts in connection with this state of things, 
deserve to be mentioned here, in order that certain influences 
of the campaign may be accounted for. The years immediately 
preceding the great panic were years of enormous speculation 
in Indiana. Hundreds, and even thousands, of men who had 
never before considered it a moral business, were drawn into 
the whirl of excitement, and began to speculate on a larger or 
smaller scale. Fortunes were made and lost in a day. Thousands 
and millions of dollars changed hands with great rapidity. 
Poor men entered the list " for homes," and being caught by 
excitement in the first blush of success, were carried into the 
life they had always condemned. 

Indianapolis was the centre of the craze — for a craze it was. 
^j Property rose to unheard-of values in an hour. Suburbs 
sprang up, as if in a night ; and one looked out in the morning, 
and where there had been desolate soil, or fine pastures where 
quiet farmers grazed their cattle, there were now fine mansions 
and fine villages, in successful imitation of the noted suburbs 



126 THE LIFE OF 

of the oldest cities in the land. The population of Indian- 
apolis ran up from 48,000 to more than a hundred thousand. 
Workmen came in on every train, from every part of the State, 
and there vv^as alw^ays a demand for more of them, and all at 
high wages. Workmen of the city and elsew^here became 
independent, ceased to work, and began to speculate and imi- 
tate the social grandeeism of those who, from below, they had 
always condemned. All prices of real estate were fictitious, 
but few engaged in the speculations believed it, and those few 
promised warning friends that they would cease the business 
when this one more trade was consummated, for it was about 
to bring them into independence — then the crash might come ; 
they would be secure. But though the independence came, the 
fever for ventures would not allay, and they plunged in again. 
So it continued until 1S73, and even later. In that year the 
crisis came. 

One case will illustrate the situation then : A man with good 
sense and moral and Christian principles, and, withal, a good 
business man, having some money, invested in real estate, and 
sold and found himself rich. He then purchased a beautiful 
tract in a fine suburb. The tract consisted of several acres, in 
which were fruit trees, a grove of maples, and a large house of 
just the home-like style to suit him. It was all most beautiful, 
indeed. He paid for it $16,000, and determined to keep it 
always for a homestead, while he used other money for specu- 
lation. So he moved his family, and felt at home. Then he 
took the sum he had remaining, and invested in other real 
estate ; and being a shrewd man, he increased his wealth at 
every turn. At last, in one venture, he invested all he had. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 127 

except his homestead ; and the investment was a large one, for 

|i the man was now independent. But then the crash came. 

He saw his danger and tried to avert it. With three thou- 
sand dollars he could make his " turn," and save his money, 
and "come out ahead." But the panic had struck everywhere, 

It; and he could not borrow anything. He had but one resource 
— to mortgage his homestead. This he did — for three thou- 
sand dollars — and he sank that. He came out with nothing, 

I and worse, for he was in debt. He finally succeeded in bor- 
rowing seven hundred dollars from a friend, with which to set 

( up in his old trade. And so he began life anew, when nearly 
fifty years of age. 

This was only one case in a thousand. This man became a 

• Greenbacker ; for most of those who suffered at that time, 
either laid the blame at the door of the government, or felt that 
"fiat" money, to take the place of that which, being with- 
drawn from them by the shrewder capitalists, lay in Eastern 
vaults, would relieve them. Those who had property could 
not sell it. Huge mansions were occupied rent free, for the 
taking care of them. Others that had cost many thousand dol- 
lars in building were i^ented at a few dollars a month. The 
great mass of workingmen who had moved into Indianapolis, 
were out of work. Many of them, having sold their farms 
and bought homes in the city, now found themselves with 
nothing to bring an income, and unable to get back what they 
had paid for city " homes." 

The discontent that followed may be imagined. Bread ! 
bread! bread! became the ciy everywhere. Everything was 
in confusion. Men who had been respectable men in their 



128 THE LIFE OF 

homes in other parts of the State, were now so excited and 
exasperated that they talked about burning and revenge ; and 
when the strike of 1877 came on, they declared they did not 
blame the rioters, and would not if they burnt the city. It was 
easy for men in that condition of mind to say and do and 
believe what they would not in calmer moods. 

The crisis of 1873 spread its baneful influence everywhere. 
Not only speculators, but honest business men and honest 
farmers, suffered. Hence, the Democrats who had been com- 
plainers and fault-finders since i860, found a good field in 
Indiana for sowing pernicious slander and accusation. They 
charged the condition of things upon Republican blundering, 
intriguing, and what not ; and they found many disposed to 
believe them. Through influences like this they carried the 
State by a large majority in 1874 ; and, notwithstanding they 
had accomplished nothing in two years, they still used the cry 
of corruption against the general government, and their 
prospects were as good as before. 

No great party ever started into a campaign with so few 
assurances of success as did the Republican party into the cam- 
paign of 1876. To add to their great embarrassment, they had 
alienated a large element by their passing a local option law in 
1873 — a measure they did not regret, by any means, but one 
for which they suffered. It was natural for them to turn, now, 
to a strong man, on desiring a candidate for governor of the 
State ; and as they knew Mr. Harrison's record and opinions 
and strength, and trusted him implicitly, they asked him to 
take the helm. But when he wrote the disappointing letter, 
already given, they turned to another. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 129 

The choice now fell on Godlove S. Orth, who was very 
popular in the State, especially among the alienated Germans, 
— as he was himself a German. Mr. Orth had served several 
terms in Congress, and was at that time minister to Austria. 
His nomination was, therefore, well received, and the Repub- 
licans started out with enthusiasm, in spite of the odds against 
them. Yet, for a time, it looked as if they might gain back 
what they had lost. Their candidate for lieutenant-governor 
was the Honorable Robert Robertson. 

Mr. Harrison bore his share of the work, but, as he had 
told the committee, " his personal affairs were not in a situation 
to make it wise for him to abandon the pursuit of his profes- 
sion," and he was much of the time in the court-room. He had 
always been a hard worker, and free from doubtful methods of 
earning his living. He was yet comparatively poor, and it 
became him still to work. 

The campaign went on, and on the part of the Republicans 
everything was energy and enthusiasm. The Democrats, 
also, were exerting every power to hold their ground of two 
years before ; and, so far as human eye could see, they had 
everything on their side. In Thomas A. Hendricks, they had 
a far-seeing, shrewd, and able leader. They had unlimited 
supplies of money. Their candidate for governor was James 
D. Williams, a farmer, nominated with a shrewd political cal- 
culation that the farmers must play the most important part in 
that campaign. They were not slow in making the tiglit a 
personal one, and engaging in personal abuse. 

In this connection, the Democrats revived an old scandal 
against Mr. Orth, connecting him dishonorably with the 



I30 BENJAMIN HARRISON. 

Venezuela claims. They knew that the charges against him 
were false, and that a Democratic committee of Congress had 
so pronounced them. Nevertheless, they knew the power of 
the cry of " fraud" in Indiana, especially at that time. Soon 
every Democratic paper was teeming with the accusation, and 
the Democratic stump speakers repeated it again and again 
before the people. It would before long have produced the 
effect of surfeiting, as such scandals urged always do, had not 
the Republican managers done a very unfortunate thing — 
caused Mr, Orth to withdraw from the contest, thus at once 
producing that uncertain feeling that such an implied ackowl- 
edgment always does, showing injustice to Mr. Orth, and 
alienating the large German vote of the State as well as all the 
rest of Mr, Orth's friends. 

Mr. Harrison was at that time out of the State, and knew 
nothing of what was going on at the Republican headquar- 
ters in Indiana, While he was on his way home shortly after- 
wards, he saw an account of the affair in a Chicago paper, 
and with it the astounding statement that his own name had 
been placed at the head of the ticket in place of that of Mr. 
Orth, He returned home, and severely criticised the committee 
for its action, not only on account of the lack of good pol- 
icy in them, but also on account of the injustice to Mr, Orth 
and his friends. He predicted thorough defeat. He at first 
refused to accept the place at the head of the ticket ; but at last, 
at the earnest solicitation of his friends, and considering that 
his withdrawal would make the defeat of the party still surer, 
by precipitating confusion, and perhaps division, he consented 
to lead in the already crippled campaign. But it was a mosti 




RUSSELL B. HARRISON, OF MONTANA, 

SON OF GENERAL HARRISON. 
[From a Photograph hy Sarony, X. Y.] 



132 THE LIFE OF 

thankless task, under the circumstances. It was only six 
weeks until the election ; the population of Indiana was largely 
agricultural ; farmers were busy on their farms ; the State was 
large ; there were ninety-two counties to thoroughly canvass ; 
and there was as much to undo as there was to do. 

The evidence of a corruption fund in the campaign of 1S76 
on the part of the Democrats, is well-known. The chairman 
of their National Committee was W. H. Barnum. Their 
methods that year were what they have been since. But " cor- 
ruption funds" may be used in various ways, and often honest 
people are beguiled by promises and glittering hopes whose 
origin is under cover. 

There never was a greater field for this kind of work than 
Indiana was in 1876. Let " high living," " extravagance, " 
" misuse of public funds," and such absurdities be charged upon 
the Republican administration, while the people feel the terri- 
ble depression of the times ; let it be stated that these things 
brought on the hard times ; let the Democratic stump speakers 
reiterate these statements at every cross-roads in the State ; let 
papers with these falsehoods in them be circulated everywhere ; 

— then let promises be held out of inform, of replenished 
pocket-books through better administration, and the Democrats 
will have formidable weapons to fight with at such a time. 
All this requires mo.ney — money spent to circulate falsehoods 

— and that is corruption in itself. But that is by far the least 
unrighteous of methods of using " corruption funds" ; and 
Indiana was a ripe field for worse ones. The seed was 
well sown. 

Against Mr. Harrison and Mr. Robertson were pitted James 
D. Williams and Isaac P. Gray. The former was a "farmers' 



( 






BENJAMIN HARRISON. 133 

candidate," put up for appealing to the very class who, through- 
out the State, felt the depression most, and were the most sus- 
picious on account of it. He prided himself on his " farmer- 
like " appearance, which meant more to the Indiana farmer 
in those times, perhaps, than in anytime since, or even before, 
subsequent to pioneer days. He wore a suit of blue jeans, 
even on public occasions ; and this fact w'as boasted of over the 
State. He became to the Democratic farmers, and perhaps, 
to some discontented ones not Democrats, a sort of personal 
token of easier times ; for the Republicans were believed to be 
spendthrifts, and the authors of the hard times. On account 
of this suit, and the use that could be made of it, Mr. Williams 
became known in the campaign as " Blue Jeans," and this be- 
came the Democratic watchword. It was unwisely given by 
Republicans, in disgust, at first, but it became a power to the 
Democrats, through the peculiar circumstances of the times. 

On the other hand, though Mr. Harrison pursued the more 
honest course of wearing clothes such as he had ahvays worn 
in public, with no reference whatever to an influence in the 
campaign, and never thought to be anybody but Benjamin 
Harrison, the Democrats saw fit, in order to give " Blue Jeans" 
the weight of the full meaning they desired it to have before 
the people, to forge a contrast wholly misleading, by speaking 
of the Republican candidate as arrayed on the side of spend- 
thrifts, clothed in costly garb, a representative of " kid glove 
aristocracy." A falser accusation w^as never couched in two 
words than was implied and emphasized in the words " Kid 
Gloves," applied by the Democrats to Mr. Harrison. Wher- 
ever he went, the delusion was thoroughly dispelled from the 
minds of the thousands who came out to hear him speak, and 



134 THE LIFE OF 

to see him. A plainer man they seldom found, and yet he 
impressed every one as a thorough gentleman — not by birth, or 
wealth, or favoritism, but by cultivation and true character. 

Against all these odds he entered the contest ; but as in for- 
mer campaigns when his interests were at stake, he forgot his 
personal interests for those of his State and his country. He 
made no personal allusions, in his speeches or elsewhere, to 
his opponent that would be in the least derogatory, or that 
would show that he felt him to be a rival for honors. He set 
up no personal pleas. He discussed the issues of the cam- 
paign from the stand-point of Republican principles. His 
mind was wholly taken up with these. He seemed to feel 
the necessity of their defense in the emergency — the danger 
threatening his country in the event of Democratic success. 
The spirit of the days of the great crisis was upon him. He 
felt that Indiana was his division, and that he must lead the 
Resaca assault in October. He identified himself with " the 
boys " wherever he went — at Fort Wayne, Richmond, Greens- 
burg, Lafayette, Lebanon, Danville, Greencastle, Terre Haute, 
everywhere — as in the days of 1862, '3, '4, and '5. In these 
places he met many of the old soldiers who had fought under 
him, and shared his . glory at Resaca, Peach Tree Creek, 
Atlanta, and Nashville. 

At Lebanon, where he spoke, he had already friends who 
had heard him during the Clem trial ; but there was little said 
aflerwards about " Kid Gloves " by those who listened to him 
for the first time on that day. The outline of his speech at 
Danville, August 18, was given by the Indianapolisybe^r^^a/ as 
follows : " Personal Matters — Democratic Party Should Die 
— Democracy and Rebellion — 'The Bloody Shirt' — Til- 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 135 

den a Secessionist — Mr. Tilden Predicts the Rebellion — Til- 
den in an Unenviable Light — No Influence for the Union Cause 
— Tilden Responsible for the Credit Mobilier." At Greens- 
burg, his patriotic and martial feelings seemed to take posses- 
sion of him, and he cried," Come on^ boy si " And the old sol- 
diers felt like following him again to the rescue of their country. 
The result of this energetic canvass was a victory — such as 
Washington sometimes gained out of his defeats. Mr. Harri- 
son was not elected, but he gained what led to other victories. 
The enemy were crippled, and their ranks dejDleted ; their ma- 
jority of 1874 reduced more than half. But his own county 
gave him a large majority, and that showed that from hence- 
forth he was their recognized leader. The Republican ticket 
was beaten by an average plurality of more than seven thou- 
sand votes ; but General Harrison was beaten by a plurality of 
only 5,084. The total vote of the State was 434,457 ; and there 
was a Greenback vote of 13,000. The following shows how 
he compared with his associate candidates, in the estimation 
of the people : 

Harrison, for Governor, . ...... 208,080 

Robertson, for Lieutenant-Governor, ..... 206,641 

Watts, for Secretary of State, 206,774 

Herriott, for Treasurer, 206,197 

Hess, for Auditor, 207,774 

Smitli, for Superintendent of Public Instruction, . . 205,332 

Mr. Harrison's vote, therefore, was 1,536 above the average 
vote of the other five. But when we consider that the com- 
bined vote of the thirteen congressmen voted for by Republi- 
cans was only 204,419, we find his lead of his ticket to be 
more than eighteen hundred, and that his vote was 3,664 
ahead of that of the congressmen. 



136 BENJAMIN HARRISON. 

But this personal popularity was the least of his victories. 
By his organization and energetic work the whole Republican 
vote was made larger. No one can look at the situation as it 
was in Indiana that year, without wondering why the Repub- 
lican defeat was not greater than it was, unless Mr. Harrison's 
work be taken into account. The Greenback vote must cer- 
tainly have been larger than it was, had it not been for him. 
The Greenback candidate for governor withdrew, however, 
in favor of Mr. Harrison, which operated more against the 
Republicans than for them, for the cry of " bargain and sale " 
was raised by the Democrats, and thus Mr. Harrison's hard 
task was apparently increased. Nevertheless, the vote did not 
all go to the Democrats ; and more of it would have been 
agfainst him had it not been for his diligence. But Mr. Har- 
rison's canvass also set the Republican party again on the up- 
ward grade toward success. It turned the sinking fortunes of 
the party. It restored it again — right in the midst of troublous 
times — to the confidence of the people. 

For Mr. Harrison himself, the State canvass brought in- 
creased popularity. It made Indiana aware that a giant was 
leading Republican hosts. It made him friends throughout 
the State — not among the old soldiers, for they were his 
friends before, but among farmers, who, in spite of the false 
impressions "Blue Jeans" and "Kid Gloves" had given 
them, knew an honest man when they saw and heard him. 
He also became acquainted with the people, their ways of 
thinking, their feelings, and their wants. He was now in 
greater demand for the general campaign, in spite of his 
apparent October defeat ; and right royally did he lend his 
services until November. 



* 



Chapter X. 



LAWYER AND POLITICIAN. 

A LEADER OF THE INDIANA BAR THE STRIKE OF 1S77 ON THE SIDE 

'of SYMPATHY THE CAMPAIGN OF 187S CONTEST WITH GREEN- 
BACKERS MEMBER OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER COMMISSION 

AN INDUSTRIAL PARADE — THE CAMPAIGN OF 1880 — THE UNITED 

STATES SENATE A VIEW OF THE LAWYER, THE POLITICIAN, THE 

MAN. 

After the campaign, Mr. Harrison quietly resumed the 
practice of his profession, just as if he had not won for himseU" 
additional fame during his absence. 

By this time he was one of the recognized leaders of the In- 
diana bar. Had he been as well known by the people in his 
law practice as he now was in his political life, he would have 
been considered by them the ablest lawyer in the State. 
Those, however, who came in contact with him knew his 
ability, and were not slow to pronounce judgment as to his 
superiority as a lawyer. 

The year of 1S77 was scarcely ushered in, when the people 
in many of the states began to be uneasy on account of the 
mutterings of a threatening storm, the exact nature of which 
no one could tell. The feeling had existed a long time that 
things could not remain many months as they then were. For 
men must live, though manufacturers and other employers 
might give them nothing to do. 



138 THE LIFE OF 

There were many who were now suffering that had brought 
their troubles upon their own heads in the manner ah-eady 
described. But there were thousands of others who, during 
all the " flush times," had wrought for wages, and joined not 
in the speculative excitement of the times. They were 
responsible neither for gilded, fictitious prices, nor for the result 
that came. The wealthy were responsible for it all, and the 
poor were the greatest sufferers when the crash came. Their 
complaints were now well-founded, whether the methods that ' 
many of them proposed for obtaining justice were right or 
not. 

A simple, but terrible problem was before the workingmen, 
and before the capitalists as well. The former had no bread 
in their houses, and no means of getting any ; they were will- 
ing to work, but no man hired them ; they must live, but how.? 
Employers might have apparent cause for reduction of wages, 
and for turning workmen away, in the financial depression. 
They certainly could not make large profits while demand 
was low and wages to workingmen were high. Some of 1 
them might lose. But living was high — strangely — and 
what could the workingmen do? To employers — individuals 
or corporations — who had no interests but their own, who 
made money by "salting down" the pionts, who dealt in 
margins manipulated by themselves, but trusted nothing to 
human nature in society, casting no "bread upon the waters," 
the problem was impossible of solution, and perhaps without 
interest. But there were others who invested in the charity 
of letting their workmen live, even though they themselves 
apparently suffered, and the returns came in after the panic 



BENJAIVIIN HARRISON. 139 

was over. There were others, such as General Harrison, 
who, though they were not rich, and not employers, saw the 
real situation, and advised for the suffering classes. 

But with threats of violence Mr. Harrison had no sympathy, 
although he appreciated the complaints. In the first place, 
the leaders in such outbreaks»were seldom the honest work- 
men. Tlie real sufferers were generally the last to engage 
in them, if they ever did. In the next place, there could be 
no relief by it. Again, it was morally and socially wrong. 
Every consideration decreed that men should suffer rather than 
resort to violence. 

The disturbance began, as usual, with the railroads. It broke 
out on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad in Maryland. It was 
not long until nearly all the roads in Pennsylvania were 
involved. Soon the trains on most of the roads in Ohio and 
Indiana were stopped. On the 22d of July, which was Sun- 
day, a riot broke out in Pittsburg, and over $4,000,000 worth 
of property was destroyed. On the 23d, the employes of the 
Vandalia, and the Indianapolis, Terre Haute, and St. Louis 
railroads ceased running trains. On the 24th, no trains of 
any kind were permitted to leave Indianapolis, except mail 
trains. The strikers took possession of the Union Depot. 
The people of the city were trembling lest the scenes of Pitts- 
burg should be repeated. The peculiar situation, already 
described, made such an outbreak especially to be dreaded. 
There were too many unemployed workingmen of all classes. 
In the extremity the following proclamation was issued by 
the mayor : 



I40 THE LIFE OF 

Indianapolis, July 24, 1877. 
To THE Law-abiding Citizens of Indianapolis : 

You are requested to meet en masse in front of the new court house, 
on Washington Street, this evening at 7.30 p. m., to counsel as to 
measures for the public safety. Let your numbers be so large, and the 
addresses of such a character, that it will be demonstrated that the 
people of this city are on the side of law and order. Measures for 
organization for the protection of life and property will also be 

adopted. ^ 

Mayor Cavin. 



The meeting was largely attended by all parties. Addresses 
were made by prominent Democrats and Republicans. A 
Committee of Public Safety was appointed. One of the 
leaders of this movement was Senator Joseph E. McDonald, J 
and he was on the committee with many other Democrats and 
many Republicans. Political lines were forgotten in the com- 
mon peril. 

Another committee was appointed, consisting of "ten of 
the most prudent that could be selected, to confer with the 
committee of strikers in a friendly spirit, and ascertain just 
what their demands are, and what they propose to do, also to 
consult with officials of the various roads and see what their 
determination is." It was the purpose of this committee to 
see if concessions could not be made on both sides, and if 
measures could not be adopted to which both could agree, and 
the troubles be ended. To this committee belonged such men 
as Governor James D. Williams, Franklin Landers (afterwards 
Democratic candidate for governor), Benjamin Harrison, 
Albert G. Porter, Mayor Cavin, and others. They met the 
following afternoon at the council chamber. The committee 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 141 

sent by the strikers was W. H. Sayre, Grand Secretary of the 
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. One of the leading 
dailies, the Indianapolis y^z^r^a/, made, in reporting the meet- 
ing, the following statements : 

" General Harrison made an eloquent and logical speech of 
some length, replete with legal lore and sound good sense. 
He counselled obedience to the law, but at the same time 
strongly expressed the opinion that the wages as stated were 
too low, and desired very much that they should be raised. 
He was willing to use his influence with those in authority, in 
favor of this desired increase." 

On account of the disasters to travel and business that were 
following in the wake of the strike, as well as the danger to 
property and life, the continued anxfety and suspense, it was 
hard for such sentiments as these to find much favor at first 
with the citizens. Violence was already committed about the 
depots. On the 36th, another meeting of citizens was called. 
General John Coburn was made chairman. On taking the 
chair, he said that they must provide measures to protect 
themselves, their neighbors, and their rights. There was 
danger to property, peace, and personal safety. They could 
not wait longer for the settlement of the troubles by those who 
began them. They must prevent riots. Peace, good order, 
and life, must not, and should not be endangered there. Such 
was the temper of that meeting. The sentiments were echoed 
by such men as Major Gordon, Judge Newton, and Judge 
Gresham. Hence it was, that General Harrison's counsel of 
the day before could not prevail. Nevertheless, he was will- 
ing to do anything that was lawful and right to put a stop to 



142 THE LIFE OF 

the difficulties and dangers that existed. He could be depended 
on for this, in any case. 

Judge Gresham made a motion that a committee be ap- 
pointed to confer with the committee appointed at the meeting 
at the couit house. That confei'ence met, and the result was 
the reorganization of the Committee of Public Safety, as 
follows : General Walter Q. Gresham, Joseph E. McDonald, 
General Benjamin Harrison, Honorable Conrad Baker, Gen- 
eral John Love, General T. A. Morris, and General Daniel 
McCauley. This committee was to act with the mayor, and 
many citizens enrolled their names for service under the com- 
mittee. 

This reorganization of the Committee of Safety was due to 
the proclamation of Governor Williams, who, though during 
the campaign could make speeches against " moneyed classes," 
" capital," " manufacturers," and talk about the oppressed 
wage-worker, was now thoroughly alarmed, and spoke out in 
no conciliating nor flattering terms. The following is the 
proclamation : 






J 



The State of Indiana, 

Executive Department. 
A Proclamation by the Governor Relative to Certain Disturbances of the 

Peace by Striking Employes of the Raiload Cotnpanies. 
To the People of Indiana : 

Many disaffected emploj6s of railroad companies doing business in 
this State have renounced their employment because of alleged griev- 
ances, and have conspired to enforce their demands by detaining trains 
of their late employers, seizing and controlling their property, intimi- 
dating their managers, prohibiting by violence their attempts to con- 



\ 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 143 

duct their business, and driving away passengers and freight offered 
for transportation. The peace of all the community is seriously dis- 
turbed by those lawless acts. Every class of society is made to suffer. 
The comfort and happiness of many families, not parties to the griev- 
ance, are sacrificed. A controversy which belongs to our courts, or to 
the province of peaceful arbitration or negotiation, is made the excuse 
for an obstruction of trade and travel over the chartered commercial 
highways of our State. The commerce of the entire country is inter- 
fered with, and the reputation of our community is threatened with 
dishonor among our neighbors. This disregard of law and the rights 
and privileges of our citizens, and those of sister States, cannot be 
tolerated. The machinery provided by law for the adjustment of 
private grievances must be used as the only resort against debtors, 
individual or corporate. The process of civil remedies, as well as the 
penalties of the criminal code must be executed equally in each case. 
To the end that the existing combination be dissolved and destroyed 
in its lawless form, I invoke the aid of all the law-abiding citizens of 
our State. I ask that they denounce and condemn this infraction 
of public order, and endeavor to dissuade these offenders against the 
peace and dignity of our State from further acts of lawlessness. 

To the judiciary I appeal for the prompt and rigid administration of 
justice in proceedings of this nature. 

To the sheriffs of the several counties I commend a careful study of 
the duties imposed upon them by statute, which they have sworn to 
discharge. I admonish each to use the full power of his county in the 
preservation of order and the suppression of breaches of the peace, 
assuring them of my hearty cooperation, with the power of the State 
at my command when satisfied that occasion requires its exercise. 

To those who have arrayed themselves against the Government and 
are subverting law and order and the best interests of society by the 
waste and destruction of property, the derangement of trains, and 
the ruin of all classes of labor, I appeal for an immediate abandon- 
ment of their unwise and unlawful confederation. I convey to them 



144 



THE LIFE OF 



the voice of the law, which they cannot afford to disregard. I trust 
that its admonition maybe so promptly heeded that a resort to extreme 
measures will be unnecessary, and that the authority of the law and 
the dignity of the State, against which they have so grievously 
offended, may be restored and duly respected hereafter. 

Given at Indianapolis, this twenty-sixth day of July, 1877. 

Witness the seal of the State, and the signature of the Governor. 

James D. Williams. 

The citizen volunteer forces were organized under various 
leaders, not the least of whom were Generals Gresham and 
Harrison. General Gresham had his barracks at the district 
court room. General Harrison's company was detailed to 
the protection of the United States Armory, in which were 
300,000 Springfield rifles, with ammvmition. Here was one 
effectual method of preventing much blood-shed — to prevent 
the rioters from securing arms. General Harrison put the 
place in a condition of defense. 

Governor Williams had decided to appoint General Harri- 
son commander of the whole volunteer forces. This was at 
the instance of the committee. But General Harrison de- 
clined to accept, saying that he was already captain of one 
company. Some hot-headed friends wished him to march 
out against the rioters and give them a lesson of powder and 
ball. He answered: "I don't propose to go out and shoot 
down my neighbors, unless it is positively necessary to do so 
in order to uphold the law." He used his utmost endeavors 
to bring about a reconciliation, and a peaceful settling of the 
dispute. His whole course during those terrible days 
showed both the qualities of the accomplished general and 



i 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 145 

the faithful citizen. It would not have been hard to have shot 
down hundreds of rioters, but there woidd have been no 
bravery in it. General Harrison had taken not a step, per- 
formed not an act, during the Rebellion that was not for the 
preservation of the Union ; he now chose to do nothing that 
was not necessary to defend his State and home. 

At last the strike was ended ; and apprehension as to danger 
ceased. Then came the trial of 200 of the unfortunate men, 
who, though having committed a great wrong, yet had struck 
for bread. These 200 had been arrested for hindering the 
operation of the Ohio and Mississippi railroad. vSentence 
was passed upon them of ninety days' imprisonment. 

But General Harrison went to the judge and begged for 
their release. He showed that the object of prosecuting them 
had now been accomplished, that they had learned that it 
would not do to violate law and order. He thus succeeded in 
procuring their release, and thus he won the warm gratitude 
and friendship of those strikers. 

After that time, Mr. Harrison had frequent cases before the 
courts, wherein the railroads were defendants and his clients 
plaintiffs. He was seldom counsel for any load in such a 
case. About ten years before this, he had become the 
attorney for the Vandalia Railroad Companv, and when that 
company became defendant in suit for damages, he made it 
his rule to inquire into the case and bring about an amicable 
• settlement; and in all such cases his advice was found to be 
just and satisfactory to both parties. 

There was no man in Indiana, or in the country, who 
sympathized more with the masses in their prosperity or their 



10 



146 BENJAMIN HARRISON. 

adversity than General Harrison. This fact is plainly seen in 
his attitude during the gixat strike, and in his being sought for 
the defense of those who had grievances against monopolies. 

There is a reason for this. He was thoroughly American in 
his principles. He had no svmpath\ \\ith that sentiment in 
the South which declared that a certain class had no rights 
which a certain other class was hound to respect. He had no 
sympathy with the idea tliat any class conditions should hinder 
individuals in the free race for developed merit and for success, 
and that anything but real merit, possessed or developed in 
the race, ought to entitle to prestige or any sort of honor. He 
sought to take away e\ery shackle that bound the poor man, 
and to place around him every favorable circumstance that 
any other man enjoyed. 

In 1878 there was another Indiana State campaign for 
counties and districts. Again Mr. Harrison's voice was 
heard in almost every part of the State. This, also, was 
almost a hopeless campaign, so far as the Republicans were 
concerned. The Greenback movement \vas even growing, 
and in that year the Greenbackers were making a vigorous 
canvass. They had had an advantage ever since the crisis 
began, and a greater advantage since it was announced that 
specie pa3'ment would be resumed January i, 1879. The 
fear of resumption had been one of the powerful influences 
against the Republicans in the campaign of 1876, and was a 
more powerful influence now. In the existing state of aflairs, 
this can be readily understood, and needs no further explana- 
tion ; liut it must be constantly borne in mind, in making an 
estimate of all the influences against which the Republican 




ULYSSES S. GRANT, 

THE SECOND REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



14S THE LIFE OF 

party had to contend, and of any one man's influence in the 
contest, until the triumph of the policy on the appointed day. 

Among other important speeches delivered by Mr. Harrison 
during that campaign, was one at Richmond, Indiana, on the 
9th of August. The following outline of the speech was 
made by one of the Indianapolis papers, and gives an idea of 
the questions discussed there and throughout the State : 
*' Mr. Voorhecs on the Fresitk-ntial Title — Why the Army 
was Attacked — Demcicratic Governors Call for Help — South 
Carolina Again in Revolt — Fiat Dollars vs. Greenbacks — 
Labor Wants a Par Dollar — The Labor Question — Class 
Dissensions — Voorhees' Bloody Shirt — The Brighter Side." 
The Democratic and inflation organs endeavored to make a 
good deal of capital out of his use of the terms " fiat dollars " 
and " fiat money," as if in them he had sneered at the thou- 
sands of good people who then held that mistaken idea. But 
Mr. Harrison was a man who never made apologies for his 
positions, nor sought to win favor by conciliating explanations. 
He condemned the "fiat " principle without fear or favor, and 
when Januarv came, successfid resumption sustained him. 

For a number of years the wants of the people along the 
banks of the Mississippi River had been presented to Congress 
in vain. That is, thousands of acres of alluvial lands needed 
to be reclaimed from the almost yearly overflow. Much 
money had indeed been spent in clearing the mouth of the 
river, as well as other ways. But in 1S79, Congress at last 
took the matter in hand in earnest. The President was author- 
ized to appoint a " Mississippi River Commission," consist- 
ing of seven able men, some of whom were to be surveying 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 149 

engineers, to take charge of the matter of the improvement of 
the river, and the reclaiming of the alluvial lands. President 
Hayes appointed Henjamin Harrison one of that commission, 
with Captain James B. Eads — who had just made himself 
famous in the constructing of the jetties at the Gulf end of the 
South Pass — and others of like ability. As in everythino- he 
undertook, here Mr. Harrison did eiticient service. He had 
his special " calling," but with his power of application and 
his mastering every subject that came before him for consider- 
ation, he might ha\e made a success in anv callin<>-. He was 
ready for any work he might be called on to do. 

By this time the politiciU situation was completely changed. 
The crisis — or what many considered a crisis — of resumption 
had passed. The Republican party had brought the countrv 
.safely through another one of the dark periods of her history. 
Confidence was again restored, and prosperit}' began to rise 
like a bright sun over the land. The party stood forth with a 
clear record, in having not onh accomplished everything it 
had undertaken to do for the country, but with the confession 
forced from its enemies that everything it had done was a 
good thing. The issue of resumption, like that of slavery, 
was settled forever. There was now absolutely no immediate 
issue. The Democrats had nothing to warn the countrv about ; 
they had only one complaint to make, and that was a false one, 
so far as law and electoral votes were concerned. During the 
crisis, while men were in doubt as to the party policy, the 
electoral votes of several states were lost, but there were 
other gains ; vet, the popular vote showed the real state ol' 
feeling in the countrv. But tlie trium])h came now, and e\ cry 



I50 



THE LIFE OF 



man saw that if tlic jDolicy of other parties had succeeded, the 
prosperity would not have come. 

Indiana shared the general good feeling. .She had given 
her electoral vote to the Republican candidates at every elec- 
tion since 1856, except that of 1876, and in both those years 
men feared her policy, which had afterwards proved so suc- 
cessful and right. 

In 1879, President Hayes made a tour through the Western 
States, with his hero-Secretary of the Treasury, John Sherman. 
They came to Indianapolis. It was the year of agricultural 
rebound, as well as political triumph. There was a great 
industrial parade, the like of which Indiana — a State, perhaps, 
unequaled for mighty gatherings and displays — had never 
seen before. Washington Street, Market Street, Pennsylvania, 
Meridian, and Illinois streets, were thickly crowded with 
human beings; and it was almost impossible to tind a path 
through the crowds for the parade, which itself was very long, 
and headed by the President, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Williams, and 
others. Indiana was happy. Mr. Harrison, also, was in the 
van; and he also shared the honor of entertaining the dis- 
tinguished guests. He was their firm personal friend, and 
they could not have left — aside from considerations of honor 
— without enio>ing the hospitality of his liome. 

Mr. Flarrison was chairman of the Indiana delegation to 
the National Republican Convention that met in Chicago, 
June 7, 18S0. When the question was there raised by some ' 
of his friends, as to putting his name before the con\ ention as 
candidate for the nomination for President, he promptly 
checked the movenu-nt. He at length cast the solid Indiana 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 151 

vote for Garfiekl. ^^'hcn lie went home, he entered into tlie 
canvass with great zeal. As usual, the State election was to 
he held in October, and he wrouo^ht taithfullv to make the 
Republican success most brilliant in both contests. The 
Republican candidate for governor was his former law-partner, 
the Honorable Albert G. Porter, and together they made a 
most vigorous canvass. 

Among the speeches which Mr. Harrison made that year 
was one at Terre Haute, on the 30th of August. Here he dis- 
cussed the cjuestion of honest elections, which had been an 
open question — -referring especiallv to the South — ever since 
the war ; the eftbrts that had been made at election reform, 
which had been resisted bv Democrats everywhere : the frauds 
in Indiana ; the double position of ex-Governor Hendricks — 
the evidences of his insincerity in matters of reform ; the 
interference of the Democratic Supreme Court ; the general 
Democratic opposition to United States election laws ; the 
Democratic frauds in Jennings County, Indiana, in Maine, 
and in New York ; the South already counted for Hancock ; 
Hancock and English, and Garheld and Arthur, and Albert 
G. Porter. It was a most masterful arraigning of the Demo- 
cratic partv for its unblushing frauds. Another notable speech 
was delivered .September i ith, at Indianapolis, in reply to some , 
slanderous charges that had been put forth by Mr. Hendricks 
against Mr. Garfield. Mr. Harrison never did better than 
when defending friends, or his country, or his party, Irom un- 
just accusations. He had so strong a sense of honor that 
dishonor done to anv one else, and especially tci those he loved. 



152 THE LIFE OF 

stirred in him the deepest indignation. His eloquence at such 
times was like a flood sweeping everything betbi-e it. 

Mr. Porter was elected governer by a handsome majority. 
Also, when the votes were counted, it was found that there 
was to be a respectable Republican majority in the next legis- 
lature. From this time until the close of the general cam- 
paign, Indiana was not considered a doubtful state, and the 
heat of the battle was in other quarters. Nevertheless, Mr. 
Harrison did not cease his activity until the grand and success- 
ful issue of the campaign was announced. 

As soon as it was known that the legislature was Republican, 
it was plainly foreshadowed who was to be the next United 
States Senator from Indiana. There were many able men 
among the Indiana Republicans who were suitable for the 
high office. But there was one man who had stood by the 
party in every struggle since 1856. He had led in its hope- 
less, as well as its hopeful, battles. He had accepted certain 
defeat to save the party from complete disaster. He had 
suffered for his party ; he had done more for it than any other 
one man now living in the State — and all this, not as a mere 
partisan, but as a patriotic citizen and a statesman. There 
were others thought of by a few, and at first there were move- 
ments made in their favor. But In the Republican caucus but 
one name was considered — that of Benjamin Harrison. So 
when the new legislature met, his name was presented 
before the joint convention as the unanimous choice of the 
Republicans, and he was elected to serve in the United States 
Senate six years — from March, 1881, until March, 1887. 

To be eminently suitable for that high office the highest 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 153 

qualities of statesmanship are necessary. One must be, if a 
lawyer, a lawyer and politician of the best types. A lawyer 
of the best type must be a man of education, breadth of 
thought, ability, and a man of principles rather than technical 
learning. Such a lawyer was Mr. Harrison. A politician 
of the best type must be first of all a patriot. Next, he 
must be thoroughly acquainted with the history, general 
and political, of his own country. Next, he must under- 
stand every kind of government, and be acquainted with the 
history of law and government in the world, and the special 
histories of nations. Then he must be a man of broad princi- 
ples, broad culture, and broad learning. Such a politician 
was Benjamin Harrison, and being both a lawyer and a poli- 
tician of the highest types, he was a statesman in the full 
meaning of the word, and was eminently fitted to be one of 
the law-makers and directors of the greatest nation on earth. 
All this implies what he was as a citizen and a man. A 
Senator of the United States ought to be, intellectually and 
morally, a man of the highest type. And such was Benjamin 
Harrison. 



Chapter XI. 



SENATOR AND CITIZEN. 

REMOVAL TO WASHINGTON THE OLD )10ME AT INDIANAPOLIS 

A TYPICAL AMERICAN WOMAN DAUGHTER AND SON — THE NEW 

HOME AND SOCIETY SIX YEARS OF SOCIAL VICTORIES — TWO 

MARRIAGES HARRISON IN THE SENATE THE BURLINGAME 

TREATY THE HISTORY OF CHINESE LEGISLATION — THE DAKOTA 

REPORT AND SPEECHES MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOR- 
EIGN RELATIONS THE CONTRACT LABOR BILL ALIEN OWNER- 
SHIP OF AMERICAN SOIL — A REVIEW OF RECORD — HISTORY OF 
THE SECOND CONTEST FOR SENATORSHIP — HOME AGAIN. 

The time now came for the breaking-up of the Indianapolis 
home, for one in Washington. But this caused no great 
fluttering of hearts in the household. 

Mrs. Harrison was too sensible to have her head turned by 
the event, or to manifest any trepidation when about to assume 
new social responsibilities. Even if she had never before 
graced such circles as she was now about to enter, she was 
too self-possessed and too well-equipped for the new duties to 
manifest anxiety as to the coming social change. 

Her education was excellent. She had been reared, from 
infancy to marriage, in a home of refinement and culture, and 
all her surroundings until that day were those of the college 
and of learning and religion. At her marriage, she had 
become associated in life with one who not only had graduated 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 155 

witli lienors, but was a lover of books and of learning, cnlti- 
vated and disciplined in lieart and inintl, and ha\ ing the high- 
est culture for his ideal. She had advanced with him since 
marriage, until he had attained to his first ideal life, and 
passed far beyond it. 

The home at Indianapolis was a home in every sense of the 
word. There was no gaudiness, no outward display, about 
the plain and modest brick house that stood on one of the 
most beautiful streets in the city, and just far enough up tow n 
to be convenient to the Market Street law office, and at the 
same time be away from the hum of business. Thousands of 
such mansions are seen in the cities, towns, and country, East 
and West. A red-brick, scjuare-built edifice, with two stories 
and an attic ; fronting the east; setback in the yard on the 
west side of the street ; three front windows abo\e, and two 
below with a door on the north corner under the north win- 
dow above, — that is a familiar object to the traveler on the 
streets and highways of our cities. 

Many of such houses look cold and cheerless and prison- 
like, but not so with this one. An air of comfort reigned ; 
but it was not occasioned by the maples and the flowers and 
the lawn, though the spirit of comfort seemed to pervade them. 
It cannot be described ; but every one knows that where 
there is a happy, contented family, cultivated and pure, the 
fact is manifested on the outside of the house, in touches 
here and there, and arrangement — but touches and arrange- 
ment apparent only by efiect. An almost irrepressible desire to 
enter and enjoy the welcome and home-comfort possessed the 
beholder at the sfate. 



156 THE LIFE OF 

Inside, the etiects were all the same as those outside — 
cheerful, inviting, pleasing, home-like. The reception-room, 
off the entrance-hall, impressed the caller or the visitor on | 
the instant of entering, with the feeling that he was wel- •1 
come. The liglit that came through the curtained windows, 
and reflected from the light-colored finish, was not bright 
enough to invite inspection, nor sombre enough to debar 
it. If the visitor were not given to admiring art, he would .; 
go away pleased with everything he saw, but could not recall ' 
the contents of the room ; everything was so natural and cosy, \ 
to use the language of those not artists. But looking closely, 
he would find that the reception-room was full of beauty ; 
and the artistic eye found nothing to offend it. The con- 
trasts were not bold nor harsh. The furniture was selected 
apparently more for comfort than effect; but the "har- 
mony" was perfect. On the walls, on the centre-table, on the 
stands, and on the marble mantel, there were pictures, statuary 
and bric-a-brac — some that were costly and somewhat rare, 
and some that were of little cost, but all selected and arranged A 
with artistic taste and skill. There were paintings and etch- 
ings and steel engravings and photographs. 

The other rooms were arranged with the same taste — Sfivinof 
an air of culture that could only belong to the home of the 
cultivated. The large library-room, up-stairs, was a paradise 
for those of literary inclination. There were fiction, travels, 
histories, essays, and heavy philosophical and scientific works ; 
there were books on art, literature, science, government, and 
religion. It required education, thorough knowledge, and 
well-disciplined judgment to select those books. Here, also. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 157 

were pictures on the wall. Here were etchino^s, drapery, and 
panels. Here was a lartre steel engraving of William Henry 
HaiTison. Here was a picture of General Benjamin Harrison 
and his staff. Here was an old-fashioned rocking-chair. And 
here was the room that was sacred by reason of its linking 
with the past. Some of those books had been gathered while 
the boy was under tutors in his father's house ; some had been 
gathered while at Farmer's College ; some while at Miami 
University ; some had been bought while in their first Indian- 
apolis home ; and every stage of the lives of parents and 
children was represented by books in the librar\ , as well as 
other objects in the same room. 

Mrs. Harrison, at this time, was as beautiful as when, in 
1854, she had become a bride. There were the same charms, 
with the added ones that had come through years of experience 
and culture. She was hospitable, charitable, cheerful, and 
had always a pleasant word and smile ready for those in her 
presence. She had the happy faculty of making other women 
her friends, and she had many of them. She loved her children, 
and was loved by them. She loved her husband, and was his 
companion in his life in every sense, and in return she received 
from him the affection and devotion and care of a strong, 
manly heart. In manner and dress she manifested the same 
taste as in the appointments of her home. Her dresses fitted 
neatly and snugly, and she attracted only by her beauty, her 
loveliness and grace of manner. She had no affected airs ; 
she was frank and straightforward in her kindliness, and was 
neither unpleasantly obtrusive in her friendships and attentions, 
nor unpleasant in her manner or conversation. 



15S THE LIFE OF 

Her son, Russell, was at that time 27 years old, a ruddv, 
agreeable, and cultivated joung man. He was alert and keen- 
eyed. He dressed neatly and becomingly. Like his father, 
he was always cool and sober of thought, eyidently resolved 
never to let a storm of any kind turn him aside when once he 
had started on a train of thinking. 

Mrs. Harrison's daughter, Mary Scott Harrison, about five 
years younger than her brother, was beautiful, and not unlike 
her mother in form, features, and manner. She was one of the 
most attractive young ladies in the best Lidianapolis circles. 

Her cultivation was what she would find in such a home, 
and with such school advantages as parents like hers would 
seek to afford their children. There was then already a v/his- 
per afloat among her friends ; and a certain young man named 
James Robert McKee, of a respectable business firm in the 
city, was said to have that noble affection for her that would 
lead him on to Washington man}- times before the senatorial 
days should be ended. 

This was the family that General Harrison took with him 
to Washington. He was not rich, and he could not afford a 
rich home for them, even as a Senator of the United .States. 
Nor was he close and covetous, and likely to subject his family 
to embarrassment and inconvenience on that account. This is 
seen from the description just given of his Indianapolis home ; 
and it is also seen, from that description, that his family was 
not likely to involve him in expenses he could not meet. 
However, their son was not destined to become a constant ele- 
ment in Washington society, on account of other callings, but 
was to make frequent and long visits to the new home. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 159 

They took a suite of rooms at the Riggs House, and lived 
for a time neither expensively nor closely, and here they began 
to manifest the social qualities that had always marked them, 
and drew around themselves such friends as the prestige of Sena- 
torship would bring, and as would be attracted by such refine- 
ment and accomplishments. Yet they had not the prestige of 
established social standing ; l)ut nevertheless, without this ad- 
vantage, considered so necessary to success in Washington so- 
ciety, they made an '' impression," they won themselves hosts 
of friends, and became the centre of such a circle as the 
proudest might long to enter. Mrs. Harrison's triumph here 
was a tribute to her strong personality. She was always '■'■ at 
home" on Thursday. Inviting a half-dozen lady friends to 
receive her guests with her, she succeeded in making the 
occasion so full of good cheer and hospitality that Thursday 
became to all a day of liappy remembrance and of eager 
anticipation. 

Thus went on six years of social victories. Sometime after 
their arrival, they moved fiom the Riggs House to a boarding- 
house near McPherson .Square, and afterwards to the Wood- 
mont, an apartment house on Iowa Circle. But -wherever 
they went, it was the same — their friends came to enjoy their 
hospitality. 

Among the special friends found in society at the capital 
were the wife and daughter of Senator Saumlers, of Nebraska. 
The daughter, Miss Mamie Saunders, was a beautiful blonde, 
accomplished, true-hearted, and a thoroughly American young 
lady. In the winter of 1881-82, she met Russell, Senator 
Harrison's son, for the first time, while he was on a visit to his 



i6o THE IJFE OF 

parents at the Riggs House. The acquaintance ripened into 
friendship and the friendship into love. Three years after- 
wards they were married ; and very soon they returned to the 
far West. 

Not long after this wedding, occurred another ; and the onlv 
remaining child of the household was taken. Whispered 
prophesies had been fulfilled. James Robert McKee had made 
his pilgrimages to Washington. The two had resolved to 
share each other's life, and enter the most sacred of compan- 
ionships. Thus the two children were gone ; and the season 
of depression and loneliness that follows the departure of the 
sunshine of a home, followed in this home. 

Mr. Harrison began his senatorial career March 4th, 18S1, 
at the first special session of the Senate of the Forty-seventh 
Congress. The object of this special session was to enable the 
Senate to act upon the new appointments of President Gar- 
field, who was that day inaugurated. On that day also Vice- 
President Arthur took the oath of office and became President 
of the United States Senate. There were just thirty-seven 
Republicans and thirty-seven Democrats ; but there seemed 
to be but one cloud that threatened the calm and peaceful sail- 
ing of that session. The nominations for Cabinet officers were 
sent in, and all were promptly confirmed. Soon afterwards 
the Senate adjourned to meet again in extra session in May. 

It was during this second extra session that the serious 
troubles over the appointments for New York posts occurred. ■ 
Mr. Harrison regretted all this ; and while he held positive 
opinions, he took so little part in the matter, and conducted 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. i6i 

himself so prudentl}-, that he could not be considered an anta"-- 
onist by either faction. 

From that time Senator Harrison was in his place durinj^- 
sessions, whenever it was possible. From the first he was 
not forward to speak or to take an}' conspicuous part, and fur 
a time he might have been called a " silent member." This 
was due, no doubt, to the same feeling that had always kept 
him from thrusting himself forward. This feeling has been 
referred to in relating the incidents of his protesting against 
taking the stump in 1856. He thought there wei^e those pres- 
ent who, by reason of age and experience, might do better. 
Nevertheless, he held himself ready to do his duty ; and he 
was ready now to speak, as he had been then, if it should be 
demanded. 

This apparent hesitancy was also a manifestation of another 
trait of his character — carefulness that looks cautiously around, 
studies all the situation, and gains fidl conmiand of forces, 
before striking. Any new situation is in the nature of things 
apt to confuse, and detract from the full command of ourselves. 
But Mr. Harrison's ability was known, and it was not long 
before his talents were in demand. 

Perhaps the first measure of great importance, in the dis- 
cussion of which Senator Harrison tcjok a prominent part 
was that relating to the suspension of Chinese immigration. 
To understand this thoroughly, it will be necessary to go back 
and look at the treaties that were then in existence with Ciiina, 
and the manner and spirit of their negotiation. 

At the beginning of the year 1866, the hitherto half-unknown 
empires of China and Japan came into a closer relationship 
11 



i62 THE LIFE OF 

to the United vStates, by reason of a steamship line that was 
then estabhshed. A wide interest in those countries was 
ahnost immediately awakened. Moreover, the changed atti- 
tude of the two countries toward our own and other civilized 
nations was awakening sympathy, as well as interest. It was 
in that year that the new and more liberal-minded Tycoon 
came into power in Japan. It was at the beginning of the 
next year that the old Mikado died, and that the young 
Mikado, but sixteen years old, came into his place. In April 
following, the Tycoon issued an invitation to all the leading 
powers to a conference, to be held in Osaca, January i, 1868. 
The result of that conference was that Japan soon came into 
commercial and diplomatic communication with Belgium, 
Denmark, England, France, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Prussia, 
Switzerland, and the United States, and the ports of Yedo, 
Osaca, and Hiogo, and a port on the west coast of the Empire 
Island, were opened to our trade and travel. Every steamer 
that arrived brought us report of some new liberal movement. 
The interest deepened. Missionaries flocked thither, and the 
sympathy of the whole American Nation was stirred in behalf 
of the Japanese. 

This had much to do with increasing national interest in 
China, also ; and while that nation was making, at that time 
some advancement, the un-informed began to anticipate vast 
strides there, and premature sympathy was thus awakened. 
But the Empire of Ki-Tsiang was not breaking its own 
shackles of ignorance and superstition, as v/as the case with 
its more eastern neighbor. Nor were the subjects of the 
Chinese Emperor so easily persuaded to seek enlightenment 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 16-, 

from other people. Yet the rulers, and niaiiy who belong- to 
the upper castes, were willing to learn, and heartily wished 
the knowledge of the West would penetrate to the centre of 
the empire. This feeling among those classes had been man- 
ifesting itself for some years, and much of it, of late years, had 
been due to the influence of one American at PeUin. About 
the time of the extraordinary revolution in Japan, China 
began to make some further advance, largely through the 
influence of this same man, and hence, Americans were 
deceived, for it was not at all like the other nation. 

That man was Anson Burlingame. He was born in New 
Berlin, New York, in 1S23. He graduated at Harvard in 
1S49. He was sent as Representative to Congress by the 
National party in 1855, but he soon became a Republican, and 
he was kept in his seat until 1S61. In that year he was 
appointed Minister to China, and there he remained until 1S67. 
Burlingame won the confidence of the Emperor and officials, 
and was thus enabled to do much toward keeping up friendly 
relations between the two nations. He was also instrumental 
in setting forward certain improvements looking toward the 
advancement of the people in the Empire itself, and such bene- 
fits resulted from them that his influence with the government 
became extraordinary. In 1S67 he resigned, against the earn- 
est protest of all the chief officials of the Empire, who, when 
they could not prevail upon him to remain, conceived the idea 
of honoring him in a way that no foreigner had ever been 
honored by them before. An imperial decree, of November 
21, 1867, announced that Anson Burlingame had been selected 
as a special embassador of the Chinese Government to the 
Great Powers. 



164 THE LIFE OF 

This was accepted by Burlingame, and he prepared to leave 
upon his extraordinary mission. He stopped at Shanghai for 
some weeks, and while there the officials of the Empire 
crowded around and showed him marked reverence and awe, 
some of them felling down before him. They had never seen 
one with so great honors bestowed upon him. On the 35th of 
February, 1868, he sailed by way of Europe for the United 
States, with those Chinese officials sent with him to learn the 
art of being consul to a foreign country. • 

It can now be seen how easy it would have been for Burling- 
game to win concessions from the Chinese Government favor- 
able to our own, and that, being an American, he would do 
nothing detrimental to his native country. It can also be 
seen that, having been six years in China, and interested in that 
government and people, he would do nothing against them. 
It can be seen, too, from the state of llie American public 
mind regarding the Eastern empires at that time, by reason of 
the "awakenings" already described, a treaty most favorable 
to China would be acceptable to the people and our rulers. It 
was under these influences and circumstances that the famous 
Burlingame Treaty was made, which consisted only of " addi- 
tional articles" to the treaty of June 18, 1868. The Bur- 
lingame Treaty was signed at Washington, July 4, 1868, and 
ratified by the United States Senate on the i6th of that month. 

That part of it which afterwards came up while considering 
the question of the restriction of Chinese immigration, it is 
only necessary here to explain. It stipulated that the Chinese 
laborers and other Chinese immigrants might have the full 
enjoyment of the rights of labor and travel in the United 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 165 

States, and that citizens of the United .States niiij^iit have the 
same rights in China ; also, prohibited the naturalization of 
the Chinese. There was not a line in this part of the treaty 
that was not thought to be an echo of the principles set forth 
in the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution of 
the United States, regarding the rights of people of any nation 
coming to our shores. It would be hard for a genuine Ameri- 
can not to indorse it with genuine heartiness, not knowing the 
results tiiat were to follow ; and even knowing these, to desire 
to prevent them by any means that would destroy the Ameri- 
can principles echoed in the treaty. 

But the Mongolians were not the people to come purely for 
enlightenment by our institutions, nor to atlopt our methods of 
living and labor, as those are expected to do who move to a 
foreign country for any purpose that involves living among the 
people. The late Chinese advancement was very insignificant, 
compared with that of Japan. We were deceived as to that, 
but had less reason to be deceived as to the hordes that would 
come. In 1S66, China had a population of 450,000,000, and 
counting her dependencies, there were 477,500,000. This 
incredible number of people was within an area of 4,412,000 
square miles, or one thousand and eight persons to the square 
mile. It was to be expected that if an " emigration fever " 
set in toward the United States, as was likely to be the case 
under circumstances so new to the people of China as Bur- 
lingame brought about, those vast half-living hordes Would 
precipitate themselves on our shores. And so it came about ; 
— a degenerate race flooded our western coasts, overran them, 
and threatened to predominate. 



1 66 



THE LIFE OF 



Naturally the people of those coasts saw the evil Hrst. It 
was a long time before the matter could be understood by 
others, and before any steps were taken that looked toward 
relief of the Americans of the Pacific Coast. American 
laborers there suffered for lack of a degenerate and filthy style 
of living ; that is, they could not live crowded together in 
hovels and pens, and so could not compete with the Chinese, 
who could so live. Then, it was not long until other questions 
of the financial, moral, and social influence of the "heathen 
Chinee" arose. Louder and louder came the demand that the 
evil be abated. In iSSo, the Burlingame Treaty was some- 
what modified — evidently the proper direction in which to 
work — but not sufliciently to eradicate the evil, or prevent its 
constant growing l)y the constant immigration of Chinese. 

Then came the long discussions in Congress upon the matter. 
A bill was introduced during the Forty-seventh Congress " to 
enforce treaty stipulation relating to the Chinese." A substitute 
was proposed, and considered, whose important point was to 
limit Chinese immigration. Section i was as follows: "That 
from and after the expiration of sixty days next after the pas- 
sage of this act, and until the expiration of twenty years next 
after the passage of this act, the coming of Chinese laborers to 
the United States be, and the same is hereby, suspended." 
Subsequently it was amended so as to read ninety days, instead 
of sixty. 

On this question, .Senator Harrrison held with Senator Hoar, 
of Massachusetts, that the bill was contrary to treaty obliga- 
tions. He saw, perhaps more clearly than many other Sena- 
tors, that there was, indeed, an unfortunate evil thrust upon our 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. ■ 167 

country by the treaty of 1S6S, but he considered that the delib- 
erate abrogation of that treaty by Congress would be unfair, 
unjust, and contrary to the solemn obligation of our govern- 
ment toward China. Again, he agreed with Senator Hoar in 
the following sentiment expressed by that gentleman in reph- 
to statements made by Senator Edmunds : '' The American 
doctrine affirms, as the Declaration of Independence affirms, 
and as the New Testament affirms, as I read it (two author- 
ities which lie at tlie very foundation of all law — domestic, in- 
ternational, individual — which governs mankind), that the hu- 
man being has a right, conforming to law, conforming to 
proper regulations of the place to which he goes, to go and 
seek his fortune, and to earn his living, by honest labor." 

It could not be expected that a man who was so thoroughly 
an American as was Senator Harrison, from birth, training, 
and principle, could take any other view than this. It is not 
surprising that his noble American heart had been stirred in 
sympathy with the waking of the eastern nations in 1866-7, 
and that it had fully indorsed the sentiment of the treaty. It 
is not to be wondered at that such a man should inquire now, 
what had become of the treaty and the honor of our Nation, 
and the principles on which it was founded. 

That bill passed both Senate and House. Mr. Harrison did 
not vote, being absent, but would no doubt have voted against 
it had he been present. It was sent for the approval of Pres- 
ident Arthur, who returned it in four days with a long state- 
ment of the reasons wh}- he cduIcI not approve it. Thus it did 
not become a la^v. 

But on April 17U1. a bill ''to execute certain treaty stipula- 



i6S THE LIFE OF 

tions with the Chinese" was reported from the Committee on 
Education in the House. It was before the Senate April 27th. 
Mr. Harrison made two brief speeches on that bill. He said 
that while the treaty used the word " laborers " in one sense, 
Congress could not change the meaning it had there by legis- 
lation. He said that in any law Congress might pass (referring 
to the subject of the treaty) the word must be used in the same 
sense as in the treaty. This position was sustained by the 
Senate. It has since been held by every President and Secre- 
tary of State down to the present time. The Honorable Mr. 
Morrow, present Representative to Congress from California, 
has said : " Mr. Harrison's views on the question are entirely 
satisfactory to us in California." 

That bill prohibited Chinese immigration for ten years, 
instead of twenty ; and there were some other slight modifica- 
tions. It passed both houses, Mr. Harrison opposing it on 
purely American principles, and on the principle of our 
treaty oliligations. It was signed by President Arthur, and 
became a law. 

It has been thought necessary to give a detailed account of 
the Chinese treatv and legislation, that Mr. Harrison's short 
speeches and his vote ma}- be interpreted in the light of his- 
tory. He saw the evil and felt it ; but he was an American, 
and did not believe in the unqualified right of exclusion or 
retaining. Yet he knew that something ought to be done ; 
but was not willing to do what he considered evil that good 
might come. After all, it will sooner or later be found that 
it is always better to adhere strictly to the fundamental princi- 
ples of our government in all cases, and that the true defense 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 169 

against cheap foreign labor nuist be found in definite and 
effective social organization, and contract labor laws. 

In subsequent Chinese legislation Mr. Harrison took active 
part. He was made a member of the Foreign Relations Com- 
mittee ; and when the restriction bill offered by Senator Fair, 
of Nevada, was referred to that committee, he assisted in 
amending it, and in reporting it to the Senate, which it passed 
without division. It was declared to be one of the best bills 
ever reported by any committee on that subject. 

Senator Harrison took a prominent part in the discussion on 
the admission of Dakota into the Union. The following are 
extracts from some of his speeches on that subject : 

Congress and New States. 

'* I always felt that if there was to be a fight there ought not 
to be a fence between the people who wanted to engage in it ; 
and yet the Senator from ^Missouri, finding no advocate here 
of the doctrine that Dakota is a state, or can become a state 
until Congress has passed some law recognizing her as a state, 
has gone out of the Senate to find one. 

" It is well enough to bear in mind in this connection that 
Congress cannot make a state. I should like to see the Sena- 
tor from South Carolina or the Senator from Missouri set 
about making a state h\ a law. We can frame no state con- 
stitution. We can set up no state government. Congress 
may, either in advance or bv an act of ratification, approxe 
what the people have done, but Congress cannot make a state 
I any more than I can unmake one. The authority of a state 
constitution and organization rests upon the sure foundation of 



170 THE LIFE OF 

the popular will. Mr. President, what is the use of all this 
vain discussion? Here are two concurrent things that must be 
done. First, the state constitution must be formed. Who 
can do it? The people who are to live under it ; and no other 
hand can intermeddle in the work. Congress cannot do it. 
What is the other efficient act to constitute a state of the 
American Union ? It is recognition by Congress of the exist- 
ence of the state. These two things must occur before a state 
can exist, and the simple question here is, is the initiative in 
that movement necessarily with Congress? I say it is not. 
Two bodies are necessary to act. Congress and the people, 
and all I contend for here to-day is that it is competent for 
either to take the initiative, and that the act is not consum- 
mated until both have concurred. Who will controvert that ? 
" Is this limitation vipon the power of the people to come from 
the Democratic party, the party that has boasted through its 
history that it lay upon the breast of the people and was 
responsive to their impulses? Is it from Senators on that side 
of the chamber that the argument is to come that the people 
may not originate a movement to set up a state government 
and bring to Congress for ratification ? It will be turning back 
the whole history of the party on this question if we divide 
here upon this bill on that proposition." 

The Prayer of the People of Dakota. 
" Enough, then, for this part of the case. Here are a people 
asking for admission, against whose fitness no Senator has 
ventured in this debate to allege a \vord. They are here pur- 
suing methods that have been recognized in nearly one-half of 



I 



il 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 17, 

the cases of the admission of states since the ori<^inal tliir- 
teen, at least nearly one-half of those that passed thronj^h ;) 
territorial organization to statehood. They are here, not 
asserting themselves to be a state, not resisting the authority 
of the government, but respectfully, and yet in a manly way, 
asking those rights guaranteed by treaty and ordinance, guaran- 
teed b}- tradition and precedent, guaranteed by the very organi- 
zation of the government under which v^^e live, a government of 
the people, a government that treats it as an anomaly that any- 
I where under her flag there should be a people who do not choose 
their own rulers and regulate their own local and domestic 
affairs. Yet I am to expect here that Senators on the other side 
of the chamber who so strenuously in debate, and even in open 
war, asserted this right of local control, are to resist the appeal 
of nearly three hundred thousand American citizens who ask 
hereto share with you the immunities and privileges of Ameri- 
can citizenship. I do not know what the party stress maybe ; 
I have not been disposed to discuss that question ; but if I were 
at all to take the part of adviser to my Democratic friends, I 
should ask them to consider for a moment whether they can 
thus safel}' turn back upon the traditions of their own party, 
whether a momentary advantage ma\ not be more than lost in 
thus antagonizing the just rights of this people, for it cannot 
be made a local wrong. Wrong is never local ; it is univer- 
sal. The relationships of the people who dwell there stretch 
out into every neighborhood in all the states. Every manly 
man who values his own rights as a citizen will be regardful 
of the rig-hts of others." 



172 THE LIFE OF 

Partisanship axd Statemanship. 
"■ The movement for the admission of a new member into the 
sisterhood of States should originate with the people to be af- 
fected by it. Such movement should not have its initiative or 
its impetus outside of people of the state to be constituted. 
I do not need to say that this discussion, if it is kept up on the 
plane to which it belongs, cannot degenerate into a partisan 
discussion ; that we cannot divide upon it on party lines, be- 
cause to consider the application of this people for admission 
to the Union in its relations to the successes or reverses of a 
political party is to consider it from a level altogether below 
that of statesmanship." 

On the Contract Labor bill. Senator Harrison spoke in op- 
position to the wholesale immigration of foreigners for cheap 
labor. He was in favor of opening wide the doors for volun- 
tary immigration on the part of those desiring to become 
American citizens. He also spoke, at one time, against for^ 
eign ownership of American soil. He strongly condemned'! 
the practice of foreigners securing large bodies of land in the 
West, excluding actual settlers. He favored the Blair bill, 
which provided for aid to common schools on the basis of 
illiteracy. He proposed amendments to the bill which were 
adopted. He voted for the bill. He voted for the Civil Ser- 
vice Reform bill. He voted for the Tarif!' Commission. In 
short Mr. Harrison's record while in the United States Senate 
was that of an honest, able, laborious, faithful Republican 
Senator. He made no speech, cast no vote, offered no bills, 
amendments, or suggestions, in committee or Senate, that were 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 173 

not in strict harmony with the principles of American Hberty, 
so rooted and grounded in him from a boy. 

His term expired March 4, 1887. The legislature that 
was to choose his successor was elected in 18S6. It was a 
close contest, during which the Republicans were mure dis- 
couraged than hopeful. But Mr. Harrison was never dis- 
couraged in any fight. He was cheerful and hopeful, and led 

' where others almost feared to follow. The result justified his 
efibrts. The Republicans carried the state by an average 

f majority of 4,530; while the legislative majoritv was 9,^80. 
But the Democratic legislature of 1S84-5 had so genyman- 

! dered the state that the result of the election of 1886 was that 
the Democrats had a majority on joint ballot of two. This 
was obtained bv the unseating of one Republican Senator. 
The following, taken from the Political Hand-Book of Indi- 
ana for 1888, indicates the balloting for United States Sena- 
tor : 

"1887, February 2. — Hon. David Turpie (Democrat) was 
declared b}' one of the two presiding officers of the Conven- 
tion, chosen for six years from March 3, 18S7, to succeed Hon. 
Benjamin Harrison as a Senator of the United States from 
Indiana. The other presiding otiicer declared that no one 
had received a majoritv of the legal votes cast and no person 
was elected on the sixteenth ballot. Governor (ira}-, how- 
ever, gave Mr. Turpie a certificate of election. 

"The first vote in each house, January 18, was : Senate — 
Benjamin Harrison, 18; Turpie, 32. House — Harrison, 53 ; 
Turpie, 43 ; Jason H. Allen (Labor), 4. 



174 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



" The votes in joint convention were : 



NAMES. 


i 


•c 


^ 

rO 




J3 
•0 

74 
4 

148 

75 


70 

74 

4 

.48 
75 


7' 
75 
4 

■SO 

76 


.5 

7' 
75 

4 

•SO 
76 


J3 
70 

74 

4 

148 

75 


70 

74 

4 

.48 
75 


i 

68 
72 

4 

•44 
73 


n 

37 
3 

40 


• 

<4 
4 

28 


70 

74 

4 

.48 
75 




Benjamin Harrison... 

David Turpie . 

Jason H. Allen 

Total 

Necessary to choice. 


75 
4 

•SO 
76 


7' 1 7' 

75 "' 75 
4 4 

150 150 

76 76 


71 71 

75 ! 75 
4 4 

150 '5° 

7., 76 


74 
76 

•50 
76 



So the will of the majority of Indiana voters was lost. 

Mr. Harrison and family returned to the old home at In- 
dianapolis ; and they found more friends to welcome them, 
than had bidden them adieu six years before. His fame had 
preceded him home, and every one in the city, who took 
pride in the city's honor, was glad to have back the illustrious 
citizen, though they were sorry to know that his honor, and 
theirs, had not been magnified by his return to the United 
States Senate. 







Chapter XII. 



CITIZEN AND CANDIDATE. 

RESUMES THE PRACTICE OF LAW CASES A VIEW OF THE MAN AS A 

CITIZEN WHOM THE INDIANIAKS WANTED FOR PRESIDENT 

WORK OF THE INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL OTHER CANDIDATES 

HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT THE GREAT CONVENTION — ITS HIS- 
TORY THE NOMINATION GENERAL SATISFACTION AMONG DELE- 
GATES ENTHUSIASM THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY ENTHUSIASM 

AT HOME " COME ON, BOYS ! " 

When Mr. Harrison had made a canvass and been defeated, 
neither his judgment, temper, nor daily conduct was in 
the least affected by it. He w^ent about his work as cheerful 
and happy, and apparently as on unconscious of what had 
occurred, as if he had never been in a canvass during his life. 
He had a pleasant word for all his friends, an open pocket- 
book for charity, a listening ear for stories of distress, a ready 
heart for every call for help, a hearty laugh for every innocent 
jest, an alert eye for every important item of political, govern- 
mental, or general news, a thorough and constant devotion to 
religious duties, a vigilant care for the welfare of his family, 
and a thorough enjoyment of their presence and company. 

Not long after their return from Washington, the home was 
brightened again by the presence of the daughter, Mrs. 
McKee, who, with her husband, came to live with her parents. 
Only the absent son was now wanted to complete the okl home- 



THE LIFE OF 



circle, l^ut, besides her husband, the daughter brought with 
her another, who was like a flood of light to the home. 

This was none other than Benjamin Harrison McKee, then 
onl}' a few -wxeks old. A king never received a more royal 
welcome to any court or country, than did this young king of 
the household receive from his subjects there ; for he began to 
rule the very day of his advent to the old home on Delaware 
Street. He had a grandfather, who, though an American, 
rendered him royal homage, as did also all the house. As he 
grew up he demanded this homage more than e\ev ; and it 
was gladly given. 

Mr. Harrison quietly resumed the practice of law. But 
such a man never ceases to Improve the hours (jf his life ; and 
the lawyer that returned frorn Washington, after six years of 
successful Avork In the Senate of the United States, was supe- 
rior to the lawyer who had taken his seat there six years 
before. He had profited by his experience at every step. 
His ability and tact as a lawyer had been thoroughly tested 
in the Senate, and had come brighter from every trial. 
His knowledge of national and international law was greatly 
Increased, as was also his knowledge of nations and men. 
But while he had sought for wisdom and not fame, it was 
given to him also to become more popular. He had won 
more and more the confidence of the people at home, as the 
six years went on ; and when he returned, the hearty good-will 
and enthusiasm that were manifested were a constant ovation. 

He had had no trouble In finding cases since his early expe- 
rience In law ; they had always come to him. He found them 
now In greater number than ever. But It must not be sup- 




THE HOUSE IN WHICH GENERAL AND MRS. HARRISON COMMENCED 
HOUSE-KEEPING IN INDIANAPOLIS. 



12 



178 THE LIFE OF 

posed that he had been idle during the Congressional vaca- 
tions of the six years. He was frequently, at those times, 
engaged in important suits. 

His client in one of these cases, in 1SS6, was J. A. WMiite- 
head, a marble-cutter of Indianapolis, who was plaintifl' in a 
suit for damages, in ^\•hich the Indiana, Bloomington and 
Western Railroad was defendant. In an accident in Hendricks 
County, which had occurred on account of a defective track, 
Mr. Whitehead had been terribly broken and shattered in 
bod}'. His claims for damages were refused by the railroad, 
and suit was begun, Mr. Harrison appearing for the plaintiff'. 
The best counsel possilile to obtain was upon the other side, 
and a bitter and stubborn fight went on for three weeks. But 
ISIr. Harrison won a verdict for $17,000 damages. 

At another time, a poor woman, living in the suburbs of 
Indianapolis, was coming into the city to market, and while 
crossing the " Bee Line" tracks was run down by an engine. 
In that case, Mr. Harrison secured a verdict for $10,000, after 
a hotly-contested suit. 

In another case, he won a verdict of $10,000 damages against 
the Belt Railroad Company for injuring a man, while running 
at a high rate of speed, and'without signalling. 

An engineer on the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton road 
lost a leg in a wreck, and Mr. Harrison obtained for him 
$10,000. In the same wreck a brakeman was injured, but in 
a less degree, and Mr. Harrison won for him $3,000. ■ 

He often had clients with claims against i^ailroads, or other 
corporations, and won their cases. But he took these clients 
because he believed them to be right, and not for the mere fee, 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 179 

nor for the fame of fiohting corporations which some lawyers 
seem to seek after for political ends. If he lielieved a corpora- 
tion was right, in any case, he did not hesitate to say so, and 
champion its cause. 

Yet Mr. Harrison was opposed to the monopolizing tenden- 
cies of corporations from principle. He did not believe in 
any sort of monopoly. It was wholly opposed to the liberty 
taught by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitu- 
tion of the United States. In November, 18S7, he made a 
speech in Danville, Indiana, upon the tariff question, in which 
he uttered words that have no uncertain meaning, as to his 
position with regard to " trysts," "• combines," and all monopo- 
lies. They may well be remembered in connection also with 
the tariff issue he was discussing. He said : " There are one 
or two things that, in some respects, are working against it, 
and one is this abominable and im-American system which is 
recently developed, called trusts. This thing is running too 
far. It is un-American ; it is unpatriotic, in my judgment ; 
and you will notice that those who are attacking our tariff 
system, take their position behind these facts, and use them as 
the ground of their assault. We must find some way to stop 
such combinations." 

Such was this American man — always an American, never 
harboring a contrary principle. The following testimony, by 
a friend of General Harrison who had been constantly associ- 
ated with him in his office, thougli written a year later than 
the time now referred to, sums up his character in just, if 
enthusiastic, words : ''I have been with him (General Harri- 
son) since October, 1867, and have been in his house often, 



i8o THE LIFE OF 

and enjoyed a very intimate acunaintance with him ; ami in all 
that time I never heard him utter an indecent word, an oath, 
or do, act, or suggest a thing that was not honorable. He is a 
perfect man of great intellectual powers — a religious man, 
and yet active in all business matters. He is the best host I 
ever saw. Indeed there is no defect in him anywhere." 

That General Harrison committed faults is saying no more 
than may be said of any noble man ; but that these faults or 
mistakes sprang from inherent defects of character cannot be 
believed by those who ha\e known him, or who know the 
story of his life. He was conscientious in all his life ; at 
home, in his manner of study, in his profession, in social life, 
on the stump, in the Senate — everywhere. No man ever felt 
a greater responsibility to any trust, than did he to his home, 
his wife and children, his religion, to his profession, to those 
for whom he wrought under any circumstances. 

It is not strange that this man was thought of as a candidate 
for the Presidency of the United States, when, in iSSS, the 
question came up of who could serve his country best. There 
were many others, grand and noble men, considered ; for the 
Republican party has never lacked for efficient material for 
that great office. But those who were Mr. Harrison's friends, 
who knew he was every way qualified for the great office, 
joyfully i^ecognized the fact that he was surrounded by a num- 
ber of providential circumstances that filled up every condi- "*; 
tion of availability. They were not slow to announce that 
fact to the country. The Indianapolis jfournal took up the 
work, and kept the State and country constantly aware of the 
circumstances. The admirable and efficient Republican or- 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. iSi 

ganization in Indiana, represented l)y the Jouritah scattered 
the intelligence broad-cast. 

There were other men, older in their country's service be- 
cause older in years, whose friends were urging for the candi- 
dacy, and whose statesmanship and personal worth were of the 
highest quality ; of whose special fitness, also, everything could 
be truthfully urged. One of these was Mr. Sherman, of 
Ohio, whose political life could not be written without writing 
the history of the Republican party, giving an account of 
every important measure since its birth. There was not a 
part of the country that had not been affected and benefited 
by measures that John Sherman had originated, or had been 
mainly instrumental in making statute laws of our government. 
The simple knowledge concerning the man and his work that 
prevailed everywhere made him strong before the people ; and 
there were many arguments of great weight favoring his nom- 
ination. 

Another was the Honorable William B. Allison, of Iowa, a 
man of great ability and experience, who had proved himself a 
man fully capable of wielding the executive power of the great- 
est nation in the world. Another was Walter Q. Gresham, of 
Indiana. Others were Chauncey M. Depew, of New York, 
General Alger, of Alichigan, Governor Rusk, of Wisconsin, 
and Senator Hawley, of Connecticut. Besides these, were 
many others, all men of ability sufficient for the position. And 
besides all these, was Mr. James G. Blaine, of Maine, whose 
influence in the country was apparently so strengtlicning every 
day, that, spite of his own protestations, he was likel\ to be 
nominated. 



i82 THE LIFE OF 

This was the situation when the great convention of i88S 
met in Chicago, on the 19th of June. It was a day of great 
excitement, and great expectations among the Republicans 
throughout the Nation. Delegates began arriving the pre- 
ceding week, and it was already evident that the contest 
among the friends of the candidates was to be close. Dele- 
gations of the difterent stateg established their headquarters at 
the great hotels, and advertised the same by placards and flags ; 
and flags and bunting were seen everywhere in the city, and 
all gave evidence of some rcmarkalile event to take place. 

The 19th came, and, at the appointed hour, the vast hall 
was crowded with more than eight thousand people. It was 
several days before the real work of the convention began. 
Finally, the permanent organization was complete. The per- 
manent chairman was Judge M. M. Estee, of California. 
About his table were his advisers and the secretaries. Grouped 
in an outer circle were distinguished men, one of the most 
noticeable of whom was John C. Fremont, the first candidate 
for President of the United States nominated by the Republi- 
can party, who was introduced to the convention, and made a 
brief address the first dav. Arranged on either side, behind 
long tables, was the large corps of reporters with their paper 
and pencils. Behind this large platform, on which so many 
were seated, beginning two or three steps above it, and half- 
circling it, w^as a tier of seats the width of the hall, and run- 
ning upward and backward, until a large number of seats 
were filled with people. Above that, and extending farther 
back and farther toward the front, was a gallery — larger than 
the one below. Before the chairman was the "parquet," 



M 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 183 

where more than eight hunthed delegates sat, the delegates of 
each State sitting together. Behind the parquet was a vast 
tier of seats, and all were full of people. There were three 
large galleries above that ; there were three on each side of the 
hall. And all the seats were full. And so the great conven- 
tion began its work. 

On Thursday morning, Mr. JMcKinley, of Ohio, read the 
platform which had been prepared by the Committee on Reso- 
lutions. The platform was prepared by men whose hearts 
w^ere full of Republican history and principles. Mr. McKiidey 
himself was there as one of the champions of the claims of 
the Honorable John Sherman, who expected to win, if he 
won at all, by virtue of his embodiment of Republican princi- 
ples, and not through anv {personal eidogies that might be 
passed upon him. His supporters, as well as those of Mr. 
Harrison, were charged more with the magnetism of patriotic 
feelings than that of blind devotion to their choice, but based 
on those feelings was that enthusiasm for tlieir choice that rose 
to more sublime heights than the enthusiasm of mere hero- 
worshipers can attain. Such men prepared the platform, 
and as word by word it fell from the lips of Mr. McKinley, it 
was to all hearts like the echo of the days of '56 and '60 ; and 
to the older men, the stirring days of '40. Whenever reference 
was made to American liberty, and its defense ; to American 
principles, and their defense ; to American labor and homes, 
and their defense and protection, the mighty shout of all the 
people rose up "like the swelling sea," marking out the line 
along which the subsequent choice was to be made, and pre- 
saging defeat to all contemners of those principles. 



1 84 THE LIFE OF 

One noticeable feature of the convention was the manner of 
its cheering. There were two spirits abroad in the huge 
audience. One manifested itself by arrangement and method 
whenever favorite names were mentioned for the nomination. 
It was sincere and enthusiastic, but not spontaneous ; it was 
loud, but not deep and magnetic. Its tendency was to division 
and bitterness, and had the Republicans of that convention 
been less patriotic than thev were, a sadder ending might have 
been its fate. The other spirit manifested itself at unexpected 
moments, and always on patriotic calls. No word nor act 
could call it fortli, until that word or act was American, in a 
distinctive sense, ar d then the slightest word or act was like a 
spark to powder. Once while the people were, impatiently 
or patiently, waiting for something to be done, the band played 
some lively airs, as if to entertain and keep the clamor down 
until business should begin, but not the slightest attention was 
paid to it, until th(.> moment the notes of "America" were 
struck, then the people ceased their confusion and cheered 
heartily and enthusiastically. There was no arrangement, no 
method, in this spirit's manifestations. It seemed to lie dor- 
mant while the people were wholly absorbed in mere matters 
and movements of policy, that sometimes went on before their 
eyes. 

At last it was announced that presentation of candidates was 
in order. The roll-call of states began, and those states having 
names to present, responded as called. Connecticut was called, 
and through Mr. Warner, of that delegation, presented the 
name of Joseph R. Hawley, as candidate for nomination for 
President of the United States. The next State that responded 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 1S5 

was Illinois, who through the Honorable Leonard vSwett, pre- 
sented the name of Walter Q. Gresham ; for, though Judge 
Gresham then had his home nominally in his native state, his 
duties had compelled his residence for some time to be in 
Chicago. Mr. Swett was the same who presented the name 
of Abraham Lincoln in i860, and many memories were stirred 
up by the incident. Next came Indiana. 

When that State was called. Colonel Thompson rose and 
announced that ex-Governor Albert G. Porter would present 
the choice of Indiana. So Governor Porter, the former 
law-partner of Benjamin Harrison, went to the platform, and 
in the following eloquent words, presented the name of Benja- 
min Harrison for nomination : 

" J/r. Chairma7i and Gentlemen of the Cotiventi'on : 
When in iSSo Roscoe Conkling visited Indiana to take part in 
the memorable canv^ass of that year, he was asked on every 
hand, ' How will New York go at the Presidential election.?' 
'Tell me,' he replied, -how Indiana will go in October, 
and I will tell you how New York will go in November.' 
In October, Indiana's majority of 7,000 for the Republican 
candidate for governor informed the country how she would 
go, and New York and the Nation echoed her October voice. 
As in 18S0, Indiana held the key of the position, so, although 
not an October State now, she seems to hold the key of the 
position as before. Indiana is always called a doubtful state, 
but when the Republican party has thoroughly organized, 
when its preparatory work has been done well, and when 
the spirit of the Republican masses is kindled into a Hame, 
she seldom fails to elect Republican cantlidates. 'Inhere never 



i86 THE LIFE OF 

was a time in the history of the Republican party in Indiana 
when it was more thoroughly organized. There never was 
a time when the preparatory work of the campaign had 
been better done. There never was a time when the Re- 
publican masses were more thoroughly alive and intent upon 
victory ; and give us General Benjamin Harrison, give him 
your commission to be a candidate, and the Republicans will 
fall into line and move forward steadily to victory. The 
Democracy of Indiana have been disappointed by the failure 
of the wSt. Louis Convention to put in nomination an Indiana 
candidate on their National ticket. There is a tide in the 
aflairs of parties as well as of men, that, taken at the flood, 
leads on to fortune. Indiana's present condition is the 
Republican party's opportunity, if we have an Indiana candi- 
date, the choice of her delegated people. I speak the unani- 
mous voice of the delegation from Indiana when I announce 
that he is Indiana's candidate. 

"Benjamin Harrison came to Indiana in 1S54, at the age of 
twenty-one. He came poor in purse, but rich in resolution. No 
one ever heard him make reference to the names of his ances- 
tors. South of the line he mounted the back of prosperity with- 
out the aid of stirrup. The hospitality of his ancestors had given 
their property to those whom they had served, and the core 
had gone to the people, the rind to themselves and families. 
On his arrival in the State he immediately entered upon the 
practice of law, and at once achieved success. Amplitude of 
preparation, large views of questions, the widest knowledge of 
his profession that could be accpiired in such a time, distin- 
guished him, and he rose rapidly in his profession. He leaned 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 187 

upon no man's arm for aid. Modest and self-confident, he 
seemed to say, ' I am an honest tub that stands on its own 
bottom.' Everybody perceived that in web and woof he was 
of heroic stuff. While practicing his profession, the great 
rebellion raised its hand to strike down the Union. Relin- 
quishing his profession, he took his sword, went into the 
army, and received his commission from Oliver P. Morton as 
the colonel of a regiment. He marched with Sherman to the 
sea ; he was in the thick of the fight at Resaca and Atlanta. 
He was not imknown to the people of Indiana before he 
entered the army. Though so young, he had been chosen at 
a State election by the people as reporter of the decisions of 
the Supreme Court. While he was in the field as a soldier, 
his Democratic opponents took the office troni him, but while 
he was still in the field the people of Indiana elected him ; 
and at the disbandment of Sherman's forces, returning home, 
he received his commission. 

"On account of his eloquence as a speaker and his power 
as a debater, he was called upon at an uncommonly early age 
to take part in the discussion of the mighty questions that then 
began to agitate the country, and was matched against some of 
the most eminent Democratic speakers. No man that ever 
felt the touch of his blade desired to be matched with him 
again. With all his eloquence as an orator, he never spoke 
for oratorical effect ; his words always went like a bullet to the 
mark. He reminds one of the saying of the great Irish orator 
and patriot, O'Connell, that a good speech is a good thing, 
but the verdict is the thing. He therefore always pierced the 



1 88 THE LIFE OF 

core of every question that he discussed, and in every contest 
in which he was engaged he fought to win. In 1881, on 
account of his services in the ardent and prolonged struggles of 
the Republican party for the rights of man and the integrity i 
and preservation of the Union, the Republican members of the 
legislature, by a unanimous vote, elected him as Senator of the 
United States. I need not enter into any detailed account of 
his services as Senator. It is sufficient to say that he always 
stood in the front rank. The delegates from Dakota can bear 
witness to the unremitting energy of his efforts to procure the 
admission of that Territory into the Union, when, on account of 
the fidelity of Dakota to Republican principles, the Democratic 
party resolved to keep it out. We all remember his exposure 
of the civil-service-reform sham of the present administration 
in Indiana. He possesses whatever you could desire in a Pres- 
ident — soundness in Republican doctrine, comprehensiveness 
of mind, calm judgment, firm purpose, unquailing courage, 
and a pure character. The gentleman from Illinois has referred 
to another citizen of Indiana. A state's place in civilization 
is always determined by the manner in which she treats those 
who have served her faithfully. I honor old historic Massa- 
chusetts for the manner in which she cherishes the fame of those 
who, in whatever department of service, have reflected honor 
upon the Commonwealth. How she calls the rolls of their 
names with pride ! How impatient she becomes if any one is 
unjustly aspersed or disparaged ! If General Harrison were 
present to-day, he would bid me that I should say nothing 
against the honorable gentleman, the brave and just judge, 
and heroic soldiei , who has been presented before him. In 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 189 

I standing here, I should have said in reference to the soldier, 

that, if the roll of the soldiers of Indiana were to be called 

here to-day, she would bid me call them all. There is no need 

that I should endeavor to dwarf any other man, in order that 

I Benjamin Harrison may appear conspicuous. He stands breast 

[ to breast with the foremost of Indiana's soldiers. Distinguished 

^ also in civic trusts, heroically faithful to every public duty,. 

skillful in marshaling men, — to the sound of whose bugle thev 

I quickly rally and fall into ranks. — and who has never failed 

in Indiana's fiercest conflicts to come out of the charge 

crowned with victory. 

" vStanding here to-day on behalf of the man who, disdaining 
adventitious advantages, has risen merely by the force of his 
own merit, I would deem myself unchivalric did I not refer to 
some of the useful deeds of his ancestors. We stand here 
to-day in the imperial city of the great Northwest. The name of 
no family is more intimately associated with the Nortliwest 
than his. It is identified with the historv of the Northwestern 
people. I shall give but a passing notice to the sturdy Ben 
Harrison from whom he is named, one of the signers of the 
Declaration of Indepedence. He was the first governor of 
Virginia, when the possessions of Virginia embraced the 
whole Northwest. When the Northwest was formed into a 
Territory by Congress, William Henry Harrison was appointed 
secretary of the Territory, and afterwards the delegate of the 
Territory in Congress. When the Indiana Territory was 
formed, embracing all of the Northwest but Ohio and a part 
of Michigan, William Henry Harrison was appointed its gov- 
ernor. He w^as a man of deeds. WJiile he was a delegate in 



I90 THE LIFE OF 

Congress — the youngest, perhaps, on that floor — he procured 
the passage of a measure by which it was required that the 
public lands should be sold in smaller subdivisions than they 
had ever been before, and for tlie first time a man of humlde 
means might purchase a home from the government. The 
historian, McMasters, in his admirable history of the people 
of the United States, has said of this measure that it was pro- 
ductive of far more good to the country tlian even his victory 
over the prophet at the battle of Tippecanoe, or his defeat of 
the British at the battle of the Thames. While he was gov- 
ernor of the Indiana Territory he obtained from the Indians the 
relinquishment of their title to 70,000,000 acres of land in a 
single treaty, and procured their relinquishment of lands that 
embraced one-third of Illinois and a large part of the southern 
portion of Wisconsin. He fought the battle of Tippecanoe, 
and by defeating the schemes of that great statesman and war- 
rior, Tecumseh, he kept open the portals of the West to the 
entrance of the emigrant. The tongue of the farm was his 
native tongue. Benjamin Harrison's ancestors from the earliest 
generation had been farmers, and when old Tippecanoe parted 
from a regiment at Vincennes, he said to them : ' You will 
always find a plate and knife and fork on my table and the 
door will never be shut nor the latch-string be pulled in.' In 
18 13 he left the Indiana Territory to enter upon a larger field 
of activity, but the memory of his services was such, and the 
afTection borne for him was such, that, twenty-seven years af- 
terwards, when he was a candidate for President of the United 
States, the State of Indiana, although a Democratic State, gave 
him 14,000 majority. He died in one month after he had 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 191 

entered upon his great otHce. The people of IncHatia liad 
always associated his name with success and victory and they 
could not understand the providence which had cut him oft' 
at the beginning of what they thought would be a most useful 
career. And now, in the cabins and plain farm-houses of 
Indiana, the people \vh(» remember the old hero regard him 
as not yet dead. His spirit walks abroad among them, and they 
expect that, in the person of his heroic descendant, old Tippe- 
canoe will yet fill out his term. And so to-day, the people of 
Indiana hold in high esteem the name of Benjamin Harrison, 
and holding in deep affection the memory of old Tippecanoe, 
have their latch-strings hospitably out to you, and their door 
ready to fly out at your touch to let in the grateful air that shall 
bear upon its wing the message that Benjamin Harrison, their 
soldier statesman, has been nominated for President ol the 
United States." 

It would not be surprising to discover that the applause that 
rang through the hall from time to time, during Governor Por- 
ter's speech, and that burst into a storm when he was done, 
was of that spirit, partly, which wrought by some arrange- 
ment ; nor was it to the discredit of General Harrison's imme- 
diate friends that it was so. It was natural that their interest 
should be personal as well as national. Their anxiety was for 
their personal friend — that/^c should succeed. His patriotism, 
his Americanism, his great ability, his thorough qualilication, 
they had settled long before in their minds. Their country 
honored, benefited, saved from un-American spirit, partyism 
and intrigue, by him, was a picture vivid to them months lie- 
fore, and it was to them but a long-settled matter, // he should 



192 THE LIFE OF 

but win the race in the convention. But the applause was not 
all of that spirit. He was to them an embodiment of their 
country's principles. Their personal devotion to him rested 
largely on their own patriotism. And, withal, the very name 
of Harrison had a significance in that convention. It stirred 
up old memories. And when it was known that in him dwelt 
the spirit of Tippecanoe, a confidence and enthusiasm was 
raised that increased steadily and flagged not until the con- 
summation of his friends' hopes w'as reached. 

Mr. Terrill, of Texas, seconded the nomination of Mr. 
Harrison. Among other things, he paid him this glowing, 
yet merited tribute : 

"A full term in the United States Senate has given him a 
grasp of public issues and fitted him for the high duties of 
statesmanship. On the great political and economic questions 
now under discussion, his views are clear and comprehensive, 
and in full accord with the principles which have been enunci- 
ated by this convention. Strong in debate, forcible in expres- 
sion, incisive in logic, fearless in his convictions, his voice has 
been heard in every political contest for thirty years. Time 
and again has he demonstrated the highest qualities of leader- 
ship ; and the firm regard in which he is held by the people 
of Indiana, the great State that gave Garfield a plurality of 
6,000, W' ill cause that State to honor her own illustrious citizen 
with a majority twice as large. In the prime and vigor of man- 
hood, free from the entanglements of faction, he voted for the 
interests and principles of his party. Of unquestioned ability, 
untiring industry, and inflexible moral courage, he stands the 
peer of any man mentioned for the high office of President. He 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 193 

will receive the enthusiastic support of his party in every state 
of the Union. Mr. President and gentlemen of the convention, 
General Benjamin Harrison is a man^Ahat any delegation in 
this hall may feel proud to suppeft. Bearing a name that has 
been honorably identified with the civil and military history of 
the government from its very first, conspicuous in his own 
gallant record as a soldier, combining intellectual force with 
moral integrity, eminent at the bar, experienced in construct- 
ive statesmanship and accomplished in the art of government, 
harmonious in his relations with the elements of the party, and 
moreover possessing exceptional popular strength in the State 
whose support is absolutely essential to success, it seems to 
me, fellow Republicans, that the hand of destiny has pointed 
him out as the man to lead us on to victory." 

The nomination was also seconded by Mr. Gallinger, of 
New Hampshire. The following extracts are given as indi- 
cating the spirit that led those outside of Indiana to adhere to 
Mr. Harrison, and finally led the whole convention to con- 
clude that it made no compromise whatever of Repultlicanism, 
in giving him the standard to bear : 

" Proiecting myself into the future, I see in November next 
the battle of the ballots in this country. As silently as the 
snowflakes fall in New England on a winter's day, so silently 
will you find the ballots deposited for us in the ballot-box in a 
few months, if you give us that grand man that Indiana has 
presented ; if you give to us that grand leader on the field of 
battle, that man who has done credit to himself and his State 
and his country, in the halls of the United States Senate, that 

13 



194 BENJAMIN HARRISON. 

man whose public and private life is unspotted and without 
blemish — General Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana. 

" I say this is a contest unparalleled, in my judgment, in the 
history of this country. We are f;ice to face with our ancient 
foe, the Democratic party. We have to fight corruption, we 
have to fight every possible species of bad politics at the bal- 
lot-box in November next, and I say to you that if we are true 
to the principles of our party, if we are true to the spirit that 
animated the Republican party when it nominated Fremont in 
1856 and Lincoln in 1S60, w^e will not fail to achieve a mag- 
nificent triumph in November next. Why, look at this grand 
party of ours. Look at its magnificent leaders. , Look at the 
men who have carried it to victory in the past — the party of 
Fremont, of Lincoln, of Grant, of Sherman, of Sheridan ; the 
party of Sumner, of Phillips, of Garfield, and of Blaine ; 
the party of equality, of justice, of protection, of liberty, and 
of law ; the party that rescued our government from bank- 
ruptcy in i860; the party that beat back that gigantic rebellion ; 
the party that lifted up its strong arms and placed them under 
4,000,000 slaves, and lifted them up to the plane of manhood 
and citizenship. Tell me that that party can be defeated in 
the coming contest! I answer you ' No,' and when the ver- 
dict is rendered at the polls in November, it will be found that 
my prophecy has not been without truth . I say to you here 
to-day, give to us that grand man that Indiana presents ; give 
to us General Benjamin Harrison as our standard-bearer, and 
the Republican hosts, who never have flinched in battle before, 
will go forward with a determination, with an energy, with a 
zeal, that will carry everything before them, restore to the right- 
ful hands of the Republican party the sceptre of power, that 




RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 

THE THIRD REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



196 THE LIFE OF 

fur four years has been usurped by the hypercritical and mock 
civil-service-reform Democratic party that has been masquerad- 
ing before the people of this country under false pretenses." 

Afterwards, Mr. Hepburn, of Iowa, placed in nomination 
the Honorable William B. Allison, of that .State. Next, General 
Russell A. Alger was nominated by Mr. Robert E. Frazer. 
Then Senator Hiscock presented for nomination, as Republi- 
can candidate for President of the United States, Chauncey M. 
Depew. And then came the nomination of John Sherman by 
General Hastings, of Pennsylvania, and the second by Gov- 
ernor Foraker, of Ohio. 

Here the chords of patriotism were swept by skillful hands. 
The response was quick and tremendous. It came like the 
bursting forth of a cataract in the hollows of a great cave. 
Thousands of voices rose up in the prolonged shouting. 
Thousands of men and women stood upon their feet, and 
waved their hands and hats and banners ; and the great mass 
of human beings was like the sea in commotion. In spite of 
diftering interests, the vast assemblage had found the senti- 
ment of harmony. Hearts were in the shouts ; and thus 
heart answered to heart, until the shouts rolled into cadences, 
and came and went like the healthful tones of many bells 
ringing the triumphs of a great cause. Then, as one listened, 
there were words in the harmonious and measured tones, and 
the song, " Marching through Georgia," swelled grandly up. 
And thus the enthusiasm went on, and many minutes passed, 
freighted with the burden of patriotic demonstration. 

At last the tumult and singing died away, and left that 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. ,97 

body ot delegates, and that mighty concourse of men and 
women, tuUy awake to the fiicts that this was a Republi- 
can convention, and that their interests were all one. While 
it had been impossible to present the man, telling tiie truth 
about him, without sweeping those chords, and while the 
response came forth as in his honor, yet the character of the 
response demonstrated that no man could be nominated by 
that convention who did not, by his life and deeds, repre- 
sent the principles of the Republican party and our Nation. 

Afterwards, Mr. Fitler, of Philadelphia, and Governor Rusk, 
of Wisconsin, were placed before the convention as candi- 
dates for nomination, and at length the time for balloting came. 
But there was one man who had not been formally named, 
James G. Blaine, of Maine, who yet cimie in for a large 
share of delegate votes. And there w-ere others, worthv 
men, and some of them of national reputation, loved for their 
loyalty to their country and great abilities, who also won 
some share of the homage of voting. But including Mr. 
Blaine, the confident prophesies were made on seven men, 
and as the balloting went on each of the seven men might have 
assured himself that the tide was really in his favor. Then that 
number fell to six, then to five, four, and three. Balloting 
continued Friday, Saturday, and Monday. 

At the beginning, judging solely bv the princijDle of favor- 
itism, General Harrison's chances were small. But one know- 
ing the real patriotic character of that convention w^ould know 
that mere favoritism must ultimately succumb to the nobler 
principle, and, knowing the character and history of General 
Harrison, would know that he stood side by side with the 



198 



THE LIFE OF 



strongest. On Saturday evening his cause, so far as the 
promise of politics was concerned, was waning. But on 
ISIonday, it required but three ballots to decide the contest. 

The following are the ballots of the three days : 



NAMES. 



Harrison 

Sherman 

Alger 

Gresham 

Allison 

Depew 

Rusk 

Blaine 

Ingalls 

Phelps 

Hawley. . .. 

Filler 

McKinley 

Lincoln 

Miller 

Foraker 

Douglas 

Grant 

Haymond 

Total 

Necessary for choice. 



FRIDAY. 



I St. 2d 



So 
229 

84 
III 

72 

99 

25 

35 

2S 

25 

13 
24 



S30 
416 



9' 
249 
116 

loS 
75 
99 
20 

33 
16 

iS 



S30 
416 



SATURDAY. 



3d. 4th. s,h 



94 
344 
122 

123 

88 

91 
16 

35 



S30 
416 



23s 
13s 



42 



S29 
415 



2'3 

2^4 

142 
S7 
99 



48 



827 
414 



MONDAY. 



6th. 7th. Sth 



231 
244 
137 
91 
73 



830 



273 

23' 
120 

9' 

76 



831 



416 416 



544 

uS 



S30 
4.6 



'Withdrawn- 



f 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 199 

The hearts of the Inchana delegation were somewhat Hghter 
on Monday morning, when it was known that the tide had 
turned toward their friend. On the first ballot of the morning. 
a thrill of enthusiasm stirred their hearts, and a feeling crept 
over the assembly that the contest was nearly ended, and that 
it was ending well. On the announcing of the seventh ballot, 
a flutter went through the audience, cheers, but cheers that 
were soon checked, as if the indication was of something too 
good to be trusted ; murmurs of approval, even by the friends 
of other candidates; murmurs of concession, and perhaps mur- 
murs of disappointment on the part of some who had been too 
strict partisans in sustaining their favorites, and some shaking 
of the head with warnings, " Wait and see ; it is not decided 
yet." The eighth ballot began. Almost every state now an- 
nounced accessions to the Harrison vote. When Pennsylvania 
threw her large vote for Harrison, a cheer went up, but was 
checked, as if those who cheered could not trust their senses, or 
were determined to wait the vote that might decide beyond 
chance for doubt. Tennessee gave that vote ; and even then it 
seemed too much to believe. Nevertheless, while some of Mr. 
Harrison's friends sat as if dazed, or rose and cheered mechan- 
ically, enough of them and of the people, delegates and others, 
realized the situation to make the great hall echo again and 
again with enthusiastic cheering. But order was required, 
and the balloting went on to the close, and it was ascertained 
that Mr, Harrison's vote was 544. Then for many minutes the 
great audience manifested that it had found its voice and tongue. 

Since the balloting had begun, the contest had been between 
men all patriots, and the Republican issue or principle was 



200 THE LIFE OF 

not involved, except in the consideration of choosing a man 
who could and would lead the hosts to victory. When the 
balloting was ended, there was no rejoicing of friend over 
friend. But more and more as the day wore on, and a realiza- 
tion of the fact that Harrison was chosen asserted itself, there 
were heard words of satisfaction. 

In the evening of that day, the great convention met tor 
nominating the Vice-President, and to the entire satisfaction of 
all present, and of the Republican party, they cliose the Honor- 
able Levi P. Morton ; and so the names Harrison and Morton 
were linked together as leaders in one of the most important 
campaigns for American principles that has been the lot of 
this generation to engage in. General Harrison was at home, 
and so was Mr. Morton, but their friends made the canvass for 
them — the organization for the nomination was not their own, 
except in so far as the regular Republican organization in their 
respective states, which they had borne their part in arranging, 
leading, or assisting, had contributed to that end. 

General Harrison sat in his office on Market Street, in 
Indianapolis, surrounded by his friends. Now and then news 
from the convention was received and commented on — his 
friends showing more trepidation than himself. While they 
waited for news, they told stories or jested. At the report of 
the seventh ballot, the excitement rose in the office and on the 
street. At the beginning of the eighth ballot, a nervous eager- 
ness was manifest in the office. "California votes for Har- 
rison!" "Pennsylvania votes for Harrison!" The first on 
the seventh ballot brought cheers. The next, on the eighth, 
brought a tumult. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 201 

" What do you think?" asked a friend, of Mr. Harrison. 

" I feel much more disturbed now than 1 (Hd when I thought 
it would be defeat ; there is too much seriousness about such a 
position," he answered. 

His friends were crowding around him. A great crowd of 
people were on the street below, and flags and banners were 
flying, and bands were playing. When Tennessee was 
reached, the tumult broke into a roar. They crowded up 
stairs, and into the oflice. They took him by the hand. The 
streets were full of excited and rejoicing men and women. 
Indianapolis had started a many days' jubilee — the grandest 
and longest it had ever known. 

Thousands took trains for the city from every ])art of the 
State, as soon as the news was known. When the delegations 
arrived next day, they were greeted with a demonstration that 
made them feel that the days of 1S40 were here again, in 
such esteem was General Harrison held in Indiana. 

He is leading the charge out of the tangles of the defeat of 
'84, across the valley and open field of an honest campaign, 
and the regiments follow him ; and he calls them : " Come on, 
boys ! " 



Chapter XIII. 



A CHARACTERISTIC SPEECH. 

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY A YOUNG PARTY — A " BOOK OF MARTHYRS " 
— CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY IN 1861 WAR, FINANCE, DIPLO- 
MACY; GRANT, CHACE, SEWARD ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE REPUB- 
LICAN PARTY WORK YET TO BE DONE EqUALITY IN ALL THE 

STATES PROTECTION TO AMERICAN INDUSTRIES AND AMERICAN 

LABOR. 

On the 20th of March, 188S, the Marquette Club, of 
Chicago, held its second annual banquet at the Grand Pacific 
Hotel in that city. On that occasion, General Harrison, by 
invitation, delivered the following speech, in response to the 
toast, " The Republican Party " : 

"J:/r. President and Gentlemen of the Marquette Club : I 
am under an obligation that I shall not soon forget, in having 
been permitted by your courtesy to sit at your table to-night, 
and to listen to the eloquent words which have fallen from the 
lips of those speakers who have preceded me. I count it a 
privilege to spend an evening with so many young Republicans. 
There seems to be a fitness in the association of young men 
with the Republican party. The Republican party is a young 
party. I have not yet begun to call myself an old man, and 
yet there is no older Republican in the United States than t- 
am. My first presidential vote was given for the first presi- 
dential candidate of the Republican party, and I have sup- 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 203 

ported with enthusiasm every successor oi" Fremont, inchiding 
that matchless statesman who claimed our suffrages in 1884. 
We cannot match ages with the Democratic party, any more 
than that party can match achievements with us. It has lived 
longer, but to less purpose. ' Mossbacked ' cannot be pred- 
icated of a Republican. Our Democratic friends have a 
monopoly of that distinction, and it is one of the few distin- 
guished monopolies that they enjoy ; and yet, when I hear a 
Democrat boasting himself of the age of his party, I feel like 
reminding him that there are other organized evils in the world 
older than the Democratic party. ' The Republican Party,' 
the toast wdiich you have assigned to me to-night, seems to 
have a past, a present, and a future tense to it. It suggests 
history, and yet history so recent that it is to many here 
to-night, a story of current events in which they have been 
participants- The Republican party — the influences which 
called it together were eclectic in their character. The men 
who formed it, and organized it, were picked men. The first 
assembly call that sounded in its camp was a call to sacrifice, 
andnotto spoils. It assembled aboutan altar to sacrifice, and in 
a temple beset with enemies. It is the only political party 
organized in America that has its ' Book of Martyrs.' On the 
bloody fields of Kansas Republicans died for their creed, and 
since then we have put in that book the sacred memory of our 
immortal leader, who has been mentioned here to-night — 
Abraham Lincoln — who died for his faith and devotion to the 
principles of human liberty and constitutional union. And 
there have followed it a great army of men, wiio liave died by 
reason of the fact that they adhered to the political creed that 



204 THE LIFE OF 

we loved. It is the only party in this land which, in the past, 
has been proscribed and persecuted to death for its allegiance 
to the principles of human liberty. After Lincoln had 
triumphed in that great forum of debate, in his contest with 
Douglas, the Republican party carried that debate from the 
hustings to the battle-field, and forever established the doctrine 
that human liberty is of natural right, and universal. It 
clinched the matchless logic of Webster in his celebrated 
debate against the right of secession, by a demonstration of its 
inability. 

" No party ever entered upon its administration of the aflairs 
of this Nation under circumstances so beset with danger and 
difficulty, as those which surrounded the Republican party 
w^hen it took up the reins of executive control. In all other 
political contests those who had resisted the victorious party 
yielded acquiescence at the polls, but the Republican party in 
its success was confronted by armed resistance to national 
authority. The first acts of Republican administration were 
to assemble armies to maintain the authority of the Nation 
throughout the rebellious states. It organized armies, it fed 
them, and it brought them through those years of war, with an 
undying and persistent faith that refused to be appalled by any 
dangers, or discouraged by any difficulties. In the darkest 
days of the rebellion, the Republican party by faith saw 
Appomattox through the smoke of Bull Run, and Raleigh 
through the mists of Chickamauga. And not only did it con- 
duct this great civil war to a victorious end, not only did it 
restore the national authority, and set up the flag on all those 
places which had been overthrown and that flag torn down, 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 205 

])ut in doing these tilings, and as an incident in the restoration 
of national authority, it accomplished that act which, if no 
other had been recorded in its history, would have o-iven it 
immortality. The emancipation of a race, brought about 
as an incident of war, under the proclamation oftlie tirst Repub- 
lican President, has forever immortalized tlie party that accom- 
plished it. 

" But not only were there these dangers, and difficulties, ami 
besetments, and discouragements of this long strife at home, 
but there was also a call for the highest statesmanship in deal- 
ing with the foreign affairs of the government during that 
period of war. England and France not onlv gave to the 
Confederacy belligerent rights, but threatened to extend 
recognition and even armed intervention. There was scarcely 
a higher achievement in the long history of brilliant statesman- 
ship which stands to the credit of our party, than the matchless 
management of our diplomatic relations during the period of 
our war — dignified, yet reserved; masterful, vet patient. 
Those enemies of republican liberty were held at bay until we 
had accomplished perpetual peace at Appoiuattox. The grasp- 
ing avarice which has attempted to coin commercial advantages 
out of the distress of other nations, wliich has so often char- 
acterized English diplomacy, naturally made the government 
of England the ally of the confederacy that had prohibited 
protective duties in its constitution ; and yet Geneva followed 
Appomattox. A trinity of effort w'as necessary to that consum- 
mation — war, finance, and diplomacy ; Grant, Chase, Seward, 
and Lincoln over all, and each a victor in his own sphere. 
When 500,000 veterans found themselves without any pressing 



2o6 THE LIFE OF 

engagement, and Phil Sheridan sauntered down towards the 
borders of Mexico, French evacuation was expedited ; and when 
General Grant advised the English government that our claims 
for the depredations committed by those rebel cruisers that 
were sent out from British ports to prey upon our commerce 
must be paid, but that we were not in a hurry about it — we 
could wait, but in the meantime interest would accumulate — 
the Geneva arbitration was accepted and compensation made 
for these unfriendly invasions of our rights. It became fashion- 
able again at the tables of the English nobility to speak of our 
common ancestry and our common tongue. Then, again, 
France began to remind us of Lafayette and De Grasse. Five 
hundred thousand veteran troops and an unemployed navy did 
more for us than a common tongue and ancient friendships 
would do in the time of our distress. And we must not for- 
get that it is often easier to assemble armies than it is to 
assemble army revenues. Though no financial secretary ever 
had laid upon him a heavier burden than was placed upon 
Salmon P. Chase, to provide the enormous expenditures which 
the maintenance of our army required, this ceaseless, daily, 
gigantic drain upon the National Treasury called for the high- 
est statesmanship. And it was found : and our credit was not 
only maintained through the war, but the debt that was accu- 
mulated, which our Democratic friends said never could be 
paid, we at once began to discharge when the army was dis- 
banded. 

" And so it is that in this timely effort — consisting first in this 
appeal to the courage and patriotism of the people of this 
country, who responded to the call of Lincoln and filled our 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 207 

armies with bra\ e nu-n that, iituier the leadership of Grant, 
and Sherman, and Thomas, suppressed the rebellion, and, 
under the wise, magnificent system of our revenue, enabled us 
to defray our expenses, — we, under the sagacious administra- 
tion of our State Department, held Europe at bay while we 
were attending to the business at home. In these departments 
of administration the Republican party has shown itself con- 
spicuously able to deal with the greatest questions that have 
ever been presented to American statesmanship for solution. 
We must not forget that in dealing with these questions we 
were met continually by the protest and opposition of the 
Democratic party : The war against the States was unconsti- 
tutional ; there was no right to coerce sovereign states ; 
the war was a failure, and a dishonorable peace was de- 
manded ; the legal tenders were illegal ; the constitutional 
amendments were void. And so, through this whole brilliant 
history of achievement in this administration, we were fol- 
lowed by the Democratic statesmen protesting against every 
step and throwing every impediment in the way of national 
success, until it seemed to be true of many of their leaders 
that in their estimation nothing was law^ful, nothing was lovely, 
that did not conduce to the success of the rebellion. 

" Now, what conclusion shall we draw.'' Is there anything 
in the story, so briefly and imperfectly told, to suggest any con- 
clusion as to the inadequacy or incompetency of the Republi- 
can party to deal with any question that is now presented for 
solution, or that we may meet in the progress of this people's 
history.? Why, countrymen, these problems in government 
were new. We took the ship of State, when there was treach- 



2o8 THE LIFE OF 

ery at the helm, when there was imithiy on the deck, when 
the ship was among the rocks, and put loyaUy at the helm ; 
we brought the deck into order and subjection. We have 
brought the ship into the wide and open sea of prosperity, and 
is it to be suggested that the party that has accomplished these 
magnificent achievements cannot sail and manage the good 
ship in the frequented roadways of ordinary commerce? 

" What is there now before us that presents itself for solu- 
tion ? What questions are we to grapple with? What unfin- 
ished work remains to be done? It seems to me that the work 
that is unfinished is to make that constitutional grant of citi- 
zenship — the franchise to the colored men of the South — a 
practical and living reality. The condition of things is such in 
this country — a government by constitutional majority — that 
whenever the people become convinced that an administration 
or a law does not represent the will of the majority of our qual- 
ified electors, then that administration ceases to challenge the 
respect of our people, and that law ceases to command their 
willing obedience. This is a Republican government, a gov- 
ernment by majority, the majorities to be ascertained by a fair 
count, and each elector expressing his will at the ballot-box. 
I know of no reason why au}^ law should bind my conscience 
that does not have this sanction behind it. I know of no reason 
why I should yield respect to any executive officer whose title 
is not based upon a majority vote of the qualified electors of 
this country. What is the condition of things in the Southern 
States to-day? 

" The Republican vote is absolutely suppressed. Elections 
in many of those States have become a farce. In the last 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 209 

congressional election in the State of Alabama, there were sev- 
eral congressional districts where the entire vote for members 
of Congress did not reach two thousand ; whereas, in most of 
the districts of the Nd'rth, the vote cast at our congressional 
elections goes from tliirty thousand to fifty thousand. I had 
occasion to say a day or two ago that, in a single congressional 
district in the State of Nebraska, there were more votes cast 
to elect one congressman than were cast in the State of Ala- 
bama at the same election to elect their whole delegation. 
Out of what does this come.? The suppression of the Repul)- 
lican vote ; the understanding among our Democratic friends 
that it is not necessary that they should vote, because their 
opponents are not allowed to vote. 

" But some one will suggest, ' Is there a remedy for this.?' 
I do not know, my fellow-citizens, how far there is a legal 
remedy under our Constitution, but it does not seem to me to 
be an adequate answer, it does not seem to me to be conclusive 
against the agitation of this question, even if we should be 
compelled to respond to the arrogant question that is asked us : 
' What are you going to do about it.?' even if we should be 
compelled to answer : 'We can do nothing but protest.' Is it 
not worth while here, and in relation to this American ([ues- 
tion, that we should at least lift u^i our protest ; that we should 
at least denounce the wrong ; that we should at least deprive 
the perpetrators of it of what we used to call the usufructs ol 
the crime.? If you cannot prevent a burglar from breaking into 
your house, you will do a good deal toward discouraging bur- 
glary if you prevent him from carrying ofi anything ; and so it 
seems to me that if we can, upon this question, arouse the 

14 



2 10 BENJAMIN HARRISON. 

indignant protest of the North, and unite our efforts in a deter- 
mination that those who perpetrate those wrongs against pop- 
ular suffrage shall not, by means of these wrongs, seat a Pres- 
ident at Washington, to secure the federal patronage in a state, 
we shall have done much to bring this wrong to an end. But 
at least, while we are protesting by representatives from our 
State Department at Washington, against wrongs perpetrated 
in Russia against the Jew, and in our popular assemblies here 
against the wrongs which England has inflicted upon Ireland, 
shall we not, in reference to this gigantic and intolerable wrong 
in our own country, as a party, lift up a stalwart and deter- 
mined protest against it? 

"But some of these independent journalists, about which our 
friend MacMillan talked, call this the ' bloody shirt.' They 
say we are trying to revive the strife of the war, to rake over 
the extinct embers, to kindle the fire again. I want it under- 
stood that, for one, I have no quarrel with the South for Avhat 
took place between 1861 and 1865. I am willing to forget 
that they were rebels ; at least, as soon as they are willing to 
forget it themselves, and that time does not seem to have come 
yet to them. But our complaint is against what was done in 
1884, not against what was done during the war. Our com- 
plaint is against what will be done this year, not what was 
done between 1861 and 1S65. No bloody shirt — though that 
cry never had any terrors for me. I belie\'e we greatly under- 
estimate the importance ofbringing the issue to the front, and, 
with that oft-time Republican courage and outspoken fidelity 
to truth, denouncing it the land over. If we cannot do any- 
thing else, we can either make these people ashamed of this 



I Z3 




212 THE LIFE OF 

outrage against the ballot, or make the world ashamed of 
them. 

" There is another question to which the Republican party 
has committed itself, and on the line of which it has accom- 
plished, as I believe, much for the prosperity of this country. 
I believe the Republican party is pledged, and ought to be 
pledged, to the doctrine of the protection of American indus- 
tries and American labor. I believe that iiT so fiar as our native 
inventive genius, which seems to have no limit in our pro- 
ductive forces, can supply the American market, we ought to 
keep it for ourselves. And yet this new captain on the bridge 
seems to congratulate himself on the fact that the voyage is 
still prosperous, notwithstanding the change of commanders ; 
who seems to forget that the reason that the voyage is still 
prosperons is because the course of the ship was marked out 
and the rudder tied down before he went on the bridge. He 
has attempted to take a new direction since he has been in 
command, with a view of changing the sailing course of the 
old craft, but it has seemed to me that he has made the mistake 
of mistaking the flashlight of some British light-house for the 
light of day. I do not intend here to-night in this presence to 
discuss this tarifl' question in any detail. I only want to say 
that in the passage of what is now so flippantly called the war 
tariff', to raise revenue to carry on the war out of the protect- 
ive duties wdiich were then levied, there has come to this coun- 
try a prosperit}' and development which would have been im- 
possible without it, and that a reversal of this policy now, at 
the suggestion of Mr. Cleveland, according to the line of the 
blind statesman from Texas (Mr. Mills), would be to stay and 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. ^,3 

interrupt tliis marcli of prosperity on which we h;i\e entered. 
I am one of those uninstructed political economists that have 
an impression that some things may he too cheap ; that I can- 
not tind myself in full sympathy with this demand for cheaper 
coats, which seems to me necessarily to involve a cheaper 
man, or woman, under the coat. I believe it Is true to-day 
that we have many things in this country that are too cheap ; 
because, whenever it is proved that the man, or woman, who 
produces an\ article cannot get a decent living out of it, then 
it is too cheap. 

"But I have not intended to discuss in detail any of these 
questions with which we have grappled, upon which we have 
proclaimed a policy, or which we must meet in the near future. 
I am only here to-night briefly to sketch to you the magnificent 
career of this party to which we give allegiance — a union of 
the states, restored, cemented, regenerated ; a Constitution 
cleansed of its compromises with slavery, and brought into 
harmony with the immortal Declaration ; a race emancipated, 
given citizenship and the ballot ; a national credit preserved 
and elevated, until it stands unequaled among the nations of 
the world ; a currency more prized than the coin for which it 
may be exchanged ; a story of prosperity more marvelous than 
was ever written by the historian before. This is, in brief, an 
outline of the magnificent way in which the Republican party 
has wrought. It stands to-day for a pure, ecjual, honest ballot 
the country over. It stands to-day, without prejudice or 
malice, the well-wisher of every state in this Union ; disposed 
to fill all the streams of the South with prosperity, and demand- 
ing only that the terms of the surrender at Appomattox shall 



214 



THE LIFE OF 



be complied with. When that magnificent act of clemency 
was witnessed, when those sublime and gracious words were 
uttered by General Grant at Appomattox, the country ap- 
plauded. We said to these misguided men, 'Go home' — in 
the language of the parole — 'and you shall be unmolested 
while you obey the laws in force at the place where you reside.' 
We ask nothing more ; but we cannot quietly submit to the fact 
that, while it is true everywhere in the United States, that the 
man who fought four years against his country is allowed the 
full, free, unrestricted exercise of his new citizenship, it shall 
not also be true everywhere that every man who followed 
Lincoln in his political views, and every soldier who fought to 
uphold the flag, shall in the same full, ample manner be secure 
in his political rights. 

" This disfranchisement question is hardly a Southern ques- 
tion, in all strictness. It has gone into Dakota, and the intelli- 
gent and loyal population of that Territory is deprived — was 
at the last election, and will be again — of any participation in 
the decision of national questions, solely because the prevail- 
ing sentiment of Dakota is Republican. Not only that, but 
this disregard of purity and honesty in our elections invaded 
Ohio in an attempt to seize the United States Senate, by 
cheating John Sherman, that gallant statesman, out of his seat 
in the Senate. And it came here to Illinois in an attempt also 
to defeat that man whom I loved so much, John A. Logan, 
out of his seat in the United States Senate. And it has come 
into our own State (Indiana) by tally-sheet frauds, connnitted 
by individuals, it is true, but justified and defended by the 
Democratic party of the State, in an attempt to cheat us all out 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 215 

of our fair election majorities. It was, and it is, a question that 
lies over every other question, for every other question must be 
submitted to this tribunal for decision ; and if the tribunal is 
corrupt, why shall we debate questions at all? WIto can 
doubt whether, in defeat or victory, in the future, as in the past, 
taking high ground upon all these questions, the same stirring 
cause that assembled our party in the beginning will yet be 
found drawing like a great magnet the young and intelligent 
moral elements of our country into the Republican organiza- 
tion? Defeated once, we are ready for this campaign which is 
impending, and I believe that the great party of i860 is gath- 
ering together for the coming election, with a force and a zeal 
and a resolution that will inevitably carry it — under that 
standard bearer who may be chosen here, in June — to victory 
in November." 




'^m'^ 
^i? '""n. 



Chapter XIV. 



RECORD IN SPEECHES. 

THE PRINCIPLE OF CONTROL BY THE MAJORITY THE CORNER-STONE OF 
AMERICAN GOVERNMENT DEMOCRATIC SLANDERS TARIFF UT- 
TERANCES — A CRUEL PAGE IN OUR HISTORY— PRINCIPLE OF THE 

DEPENDENT PENSION BILL THE ADMISSION OF DAKOTA TO THE 

UNION — DISCOURAGED REPUBLICANS IN SOUTH CAROLINA — 
TENURE-OF-OFFICE ACT, AND THE DEMOCRATIC STAR CHAMBER — 

CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION — SEA-COAST DEFENSE PLACES FOR 

THE SURPLUS — A PLEA FOR THE UNION OF TEMPERANCE FORCES — 
HOME RULE IN IRELAND — WHY A CHANGE OF ADMINISTRATION IS 
DESIRABLE. 

The following is from a speech delivered at Detroit, Feb- 
ruary 22, i88S : 

"The bottom principle — sometimes it is called the corner- 
stone, sometimes the foundation of our structure of govern- 
ment — is the principle of control by the majority. It is more 
than the corner-stone or foundation. The structure is a mono- 
lith, one from foundation to apex, and that monolith stands for 
and is this principle of government by majorities, legally 
ascertained by constitutional methods. Everything else about 
our government is appendage, is ornamentation 

"The equality of the ballot demands that our apportionments 
in the states for legislative and congressional purposes, shall be 
so adjusted that there shall be equality in the influence and the 
power of every elector, so that it will not be true anywhere 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 217 

that one man counts two or one-anJ-a-half, and sonic other 
man counts only one-half. ...... 

"The question of a free and equal ballot is the dominant 
question. It lies at the foundation of our government, embrac- 
ing all others, because it involves the question of a free and 
feir tribunal, to which every question shall be submitted for 
arbitrament and final determination. .... 

"■ Why is it to-day that we have legislation threatening the 
industries of this country? Why is it that the paralyzing 
shadow of free trade tails upon the manufacturers and upon the 
homes of our laboring classes? It is because the laboring vote 
in the Southern States is suppressed." 



" But our Democratic'friends, in 1884, supplemented their 
complaint that we had too mucb money in the Treasury, with 
the further suggestion, apparently a little paradoxical, that 
there was not enough — that some of it had been made away 
with. Slanderous and vague imputations upon the integrity 
of those who were disbursing public money, as a class, were 
freely indulged ; they did not know who. but somebody — they 
did not know where, but somewhere. They professed their 
inability to give a bill of particulars until the books were 
turned over to them. Well, the books have been turned over, 
and the cash has been counted. The balances have been veri- 
fied, and the result has been an unwilling but magnificent 
tribute to the integrity and intelligence with which the public 
affairs have been managed. The malicious charges against 
the integrity of Republican officials have been disproved. The 
instances of defalcations have been rare, and the per cent, of 



2i8 THE LIFE OF 

loss exceedingly small — smaller than under any Democratic 
administration. An attempt has been made, in a recent pub- 
lication issued by the Democratic Congressional Committee, to 
support the slanders of the last campaign. It is only propping 
up one lie against another." 



"It is not my purpose at this time to discuss the particular 
tariff' measures proposed by Mr. Morrison and Mr. Randall, 
or, indeed, the general question of the tariff'. I believe that 
tlie tariff" (hities should have regard, not only to revenue to be 
raised, but to the interest of our American producers, and 
especially of our American workmen. It is clear to my mind 
that free trade, or a tariff' for revenue, or for revenue only — and | 
these last are essentially the same thing — involves necessarily a 
sudden and severe cut in the wages of workingmen and women 
in this country. I know it is said that his diminished wages 
will have an enlarged purchasing power, that after he has sub- 
mitted to a cut of from fifteen to thirty per cent, in his wages, 
what he has left will still buy as much as before. But all this 
is speculation ; the workman j^as no indemnifying bond, only 
a philosopher's forecast. The question must be settled by the 
intelligent workingmen of this country. If they do not want 
protective duties, then they will go. If they think that it is 
good policy for them that an increased amount of work, neces- 
sary to supply the American markets, should be done by foreign 
shops, by foreign workingmen, then it will come to a pass." 

The following is an extract from a letter written by Mr. 
Harrison in 1885 : 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 219 

•' I have never believed that cheap inouey, in the sense of 
depreciated money, was desirable. I liave always thought and 
said that the interest of the laboring and farming classes 
especially, was in the line of staple, par currency. The silver 
question may be presented in diverse forms. I am a bimetal- 
list by my strong convictions. I think silver should be pre- 
served as a coin metal, but it is very apparent that the present 
ratio between silver and gold is out of joint, and that something 
ought to be done to correct this inequality." 

The following are extracts from a speech delivered at Dan- 
ville, Indiana, November 26, 1S87 : 

" There is not a man ht to transact the duties of the simplest 
vocation from day to day, that does not know that the Repub- 
lican majorities in three or four of the Southern States are 
suppressed, are not allowed to find expression at the ballot- 
box. I do not accept the explanation recently given by a badly 
reconstructed Southern statesman in his speeches in Ohio. It 
has not been received with confidence bj' the people of the 
North. He tried to make the Ohio people believe that the 
reason the colored vote did not appear at their elections for 
members of Congress, and for President, was on account of 
the feet that the colored man did not take any interest in 
national elections, but, he said, whenever the ' fence question ' 
comes up, then you have a full colored vote. The colored 
people are interested in the fence question and they turn out ! 
My fellow-citizens, that was a very grim joke. If there is 
any class of voters in this country who do take an interest ni 
national elections, who do take an interest in the question of 



220 THE LIFE OF 

who shall be President, it is the freedmen of the South and 
those colored men who have sought kindlier homes under 
more hopeful auspices here in our own and other Northern 
States. There has not been written in the history of any civil- 
ized nation a more abominable, cruel, bloody page than that j 
which describes the treatment of the poor blacks in the South, 
since those states passed under Democratic control. Why are j 
they not allowed to vote? Because they want to vote the Re- | 
publican ticket. In the last presidential election, and this one ] 
to come, our Democratic opponents count with absolute cer- 
tainty upon one hundred and fifty-three electoral votes from 
the South, when there is no man, not a fool, who does not 
know that if every qualified elector in those States was 
allowed to express himself, they would give their electoral vote 
for the Republican nominee." 



"Up here in the Northwest is a fair territory, enormous in 
extent, the one-half of it applying for admission to the Union 
as a State more than twice as large as the State of Indiana, ,| 
having a population of nearly a half million of souls at this 'i 
time, kept out of the Union of States ; was kept out in 18S4, 
will be kept out and not allowed to cast an electoral vote in |j 
1 888. Why? Simply because a majority of the people in 
that territorv are Republicans. That, and nothing more. 
For the whole period of my term in the vSenate, as a member 
of the Committee on Territories, I fought with such ability as 
I could, I pleaded with such power as I could, with these 
Democratic Southern .Senators and members to allow these 
free people of Dakota the common rights of x\merican citizen- 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 221 

ship. In iS84,to placate, if I could, their opposition to the 
admission of that. State, I put a clause in the hill that the con- 
stitutional convention should not assemble until after the presi- 
dential election of that year. But now, four years more have 
gone around ; again a President is to be elected, and still that 
young State, peopled with the best blood of all the States, full 
of the veterans of the late war, loyal to the government antl 
the Constitution, ready to share the perils and burdens of our 
national life, is being, will be, kept out of the Union, will be 
denied any right to cast any electoral vote for President by the 
Democratic House of Representatives at Washington, solely 
because a majority of her people hold the political sentiments 
which we hold. 

" Some national questions of interest turn upon the coming 
election. .Soldiers, I believe that the question whether your 
fame and honor shall be exalted above the fame of those who 
fought against the flag, whether the rewards of your services 
shall be just and liberal and the care of your disa1)led com- 
rades ungrudging and ample, depends upon the election of a 
Republican President in 188S. For the first time in the history 
of the American Nation, we have had a President, who, in 
dealing with the veto power, has used it not only to deny 
relief, but to impeach the reputations of the men who made it 
possible for him to be a President of the United States. The 
veto messages of ISIr. Cle\'eland, sent in during the last Con- 
gress, were, many of them, tipped with poisonous arrows. 
He vetoed what is called the dependent pension bill. What 
is the principle of it? I believe that the first bill introduced 



222 THE LIFE OF 

in Congress embodying tlie principles of that bill was intro- 
duced by me. It was prepared in view of the fact that Con- 
gress was being overwlielmed with private pension bills for 
men now disabled and unable to maintain themselves, who 
could not, by proof, connect their disability with their army 
service. I said let us make the limitations of the pension law 
wider, and instead of taking in these men one at a time, let us 
take the whole class in at once — - and hence this bill. Some 
men sneered at it ; said I was simply trying a buncombe game 
with the soldiers. But, gentlemen, the general principles of 
that bill have come to stay. It has, with slight modifications, 
received now the vote, almost unanimous, of the Grand Army 
of the Republic. That will be laid before Congress at its 
approaching session. What is the principle of it ? Why, it is 
something like the old rule we had in the arm}' : as long as a 
man was able he marched and carried his own gun and knap- 
sack, but when he got hurt or sick, and fell out, we had an 
ambulance to put him in ; and that is the principle embodied 
in this bill — that we, tlie survivors of the late war, as long as 
God gives us strength and health, will march in this column of 
civil life, making our own living and carrying our own bur- 
den ; but here is a comrade falling by the way : sickness, 
casualty — not his own fault — and he has to fall out; we want 
the great national ambulance to take him in. That was the 
idea of this bill. Is it not just.^ Is it not as much as the 
soldiers can now hope to secure? Why, my countrymen, 
somebody must care for these veterans who stood up amid 
shot and shell and sabre stroke, but cannot now trace their 
infirmities to the army by any satisfactory proof. They have 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 223 

fought the battle of life manfully since. They are dependent 
on their work for a living, and they cannot work. Somebody 
must take care of them ; the expense cannot be avoided unless 
you kick the old veterans out and let them die on the roatiside. 
Somebody must care for them, and the simple question is, 
shall they be cared for as paupers in the county poorhouse, or 
shall the great Nation they sei-ved and saved care for them as 
soldiers? I prefer the latter. I want the generations coming 
on to know that it is safe to abandon civil pursuits, tlirow 
w^ealth behind you and yourself into the bloody conflict for the 
Nation's life ; that republics are grateful, and that its soldiers 
will be taken care of." 

From speeches in the vSenate on the question of the admis- 
sion of Dakota : 

"Mr. President, I have never anywhere, or at any time, here 
or on the hustings, had but one voice upon this subject, and 
that was, that the man who in the hour of his country's need 
had bravely gone to the rescue, had exposed himself to shot 
and shell and sabre stroke in defense of the flag, was entitled to 
choose his own politics, and, while I might object to his 
taste, I had no criticisms for him. 

"Sir, who introduced all these personalities? Where has 
this tide of abuse, which has been heaped upon citizens of Da- 
kota, had its strength? Not on this side of the chamber. But 
Senators on that side of the chamber, from the very beginning of 
this debate, have felt warranted in calling the men who had 
been conspicuous in this movement for the formation of a new 
state conspirators, ambitious and scheming politicians ; and 



224 THE LIFE OF 

that course of vituperation has run through the whole debate, 
on the part of gentlemen on the other side of the chamber. 
What is the distinction between an ambitious politician and a 
statesman? Do all my friends on the other side of the cham- 
ber fall into the list of statesmen? 

"Have they no ambition? I appeal to the Senators who have 
heard every word I have spoken in this debate, from first to 
last, whether I have not avoided, against strenuous temptation, 
the bringing into this debate of the private characters of men 
whose names have been drawn in here by the Senator from 
South Carolina, whose opposition to this bill has been so intense 
that I never regarded him as within the reach of reason or logic. 
It has seemed to me that nothing but Pasteur's new treatment 
would do in his case. 

'*But, I was saying, another objection we met with, was that 
the people of South Dakota did not want it ; and my friend from 
Missouri (Mr. Vest) — whose absence to-day I much regret, not 
only because he is himself a sufierer, but because it puts some 
limitation upon what I should otherwise say — the Senator 
from Missouri at the last session had been so fortunate as to get 
two or three letters from people living in South Dakota — two, 
I think, was the limit — one from a gentleman by the name of 
Richmond, and another from a lady named Marietta Bones, 
and in order to satisfy the Senate that the people of South Da- 
kota did not want to be admitted as a State he read those two 
formidable letters. 

"He pursues the same policy in the debate this session : gath- 
ering up a few letters and pouring them in upon the Senate 
in order to give Senators a correct idea of the popular senti- 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 225 

meat in the Territory. Every one of these people tVoni whom 
the Senator reads letters has been counted once. I must 
suppose that when the vote was taken, they voted against the 
constitution ; and if they did so, they are part of that number 
of 6,000 that is recorded against it. Do Senators think that 
it strengthened their case to parade these individual expressions 
again before the Senate.'^ 

" I once heard a celebrated theatrical manager say that there 
was one thing in the way of stage deception that the gallery- 
gods would not stand, and that was to have an army of supes 
come around the second time. When they recognized the face 
of a fellow who had been on the stage once before, that busi- 
ness had to be stopped. And yet, just that stage deception 
these gentlemen are attempting to practice upon the Senate 
and the coimtry. The persons in South Dakota who op- 
pose this constitution have been counted once, and that is 
enough. We do not want this army of supes marched 
around ag^ain." 



" So it is, Mr. President. The Senator from ALabama, who 
last season talked so blandly and kindly about the admission 
of Dakota that he absolutely persuaded me that 1 could count, 
if not upon his vote, at least upon his candid and kind consid- 
eration of this bill, goes about looking up some question ol 
personal disqualification in some member of the convention, 
and that, as I think, upon insufficient information. Then the 
Senator does not like to adopt this constitution, because he says 
i| we have to take with it the Senators who have been elected by 
the legislature which was convened under it. ' We have to 
15 



226 THE LIFE OF 

take,' Mr. President ! What has tlie vSenator, or any other 
Senator here, to do with the tiuestion as to who shall be the 
Senators from any state ? We have to take the Senator and 
his colleague, and we do it agreeably and without protestation ; 
we have to take the Senator from Missouri and his colleague, 
and why ? Because they have been chosen by the legisla- 
tures of their respective states. I cannot understand why we 
should not deal in the same way with Dakota, when she shall 
be admitted. If these proceedings of Dakota ha\e been such 
that we can appro\'e them, tlien I submit it is for no Senator 
to say here that he objects to her demand because he has to 
take Senators whom her people have chosen, " 



"The Senator from South Carolina says that we did not 
encourage the Republicans down there to come out and vote ; 
that they needed encouragement, and that the Senator from 
Illinois, and other leaders of the Republican party, failed to 
go down and encourage them. Well, Mr. President, they are 
a discouraged set, those Republicans in South Carolina. 
They have never had any encouragement since 1S76, and the 
only efficient encouragement, according to their judgment, 
was the presence of some of the troops of the United States. 
We cannot do that any more, and perhaps it never ought to 
have been done. But this is aside from the question, altogether. 
The election in South Carolina may be fair ; everybody who 
wants to vote may have a chance to vote ; all the talk of intim- 
idation may be absolutely false ; all the stories of bloodshed and 
violence and red-shirted cavalry may all be imagination ; all 
the stories of tissue ballots may be vain and fraudulent. For 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 227 

the purposes of this argument, I assume that they are, that 
there is nothing in them in the world ; and yet 1 ask the Sen- 
ator from South Carolina, if in a presidential election, if in 
the election of a legislature that is to choose Senators for this 
body, forty-four per cent, of the total vote in South Carolina 
is sufficiently expressive of the popular will there to choose 
these officers, may it not be that upon the mere question of 
voting on a constitution in Dakota, fifty-eight per cent, is 
enough? " 

From a speech in the Senate : 

Tenure-of-Office Act and the Democratic Star 
Chamber. 

"■In the President's recent message, speaking of the law of 
1867, which required the President to transmit his reasons for 
a suspension, he says in substance : ' If that law were in force 
I would obey it,' showing that he submits himself to the pro- 
visions of the tenure-of-oflice law, and does not challenge its 
constitutionality. Under that law, I do not see how any man 
can doubt that, in the case of a suspended officer, nominated in 
place of another whose removal is proposed, the concurrence 
of the Senate is an essential, necessary, and effective part of the 
act of removal. The officer is not removed until the Senate 
acts in either case. He is an officer until, by the confirmation 
of his successor, we change the office and place it in other 
hands, and that quite as strictly in law, while he is suspended 
from the exercise of its functions, as while he is in their actual 
discharge. The question is clearly one with which we have 
to do. We are asked by the President to do an act which 



228 THE LIFE OF 

removes a man from office, and will any one insist that we are 
not entitled to all needtul information ; that we may not rightly 
consider that which is the constitutional and legal residt of our 
act ; that we must shut our eyes to the question whether there 
has been cause for suspicion, whether the office has been mis- 
managed, whether the man who previously held it has been 
recreant to official trust — that we must close our eyes to all 
these questions, when his removal from office is that which we 
are asked to consummate in the one case, the direct conse- 
quence of what we are asked to do? It has been said that the 
tenure-of-office act has been out of use. I shall not attempt to 
repeat the high-sounding terms in which the President con- 
veyed to us this information. I have been in this body five 
years, and I affirm that the civil tenure-of-office law has never 
been out of use. I atlirm, though my colleague (Mr. Voor- 
hees) declared the contrary yesterday, that a Republican Sen- 
ate under a Republican President put it to the very use to which 
we are putting it now. I affirm that not once, but many times, 
(and if he will spur his recollection, many of the instances 
will come to his own mind), has this same request for papers 
been made and complied with, and the Senate has considered 
upon the papers the question of whether there was cause for 
removal. I can call cases to mind when just such information, 
demanded by a Republican Senate of a Republican President, 
influenced my action and vote upon nominations that were 
proposed to us. 

" It is not true, Mr. President. The fact is that the tenure-of- 
office law has been enforced ; it has been continually in mind 
in the administration of that part of our duty connected with 
the confirmation of officers nominated by the President, 



I 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 229 

" Many of them, as the Senator from Connecticut suggests, 
were affidavits containing sworn charges that have heen tiled 
in the departments. Is there a Democratic Senator here who 
will get up and confess that he filed any.? Is there one." Is it 
not true, my friends, that whenever this is suggested to you 
you are prompt to say : ' I never went into the business ; I 
would not be guilty of filing such charges.? ' Is not that true.? 

" Is this the great issue upon which the Democracy is to be 
imited ? I affirm that there is not a Democrat who hears me — 
a member of this body — who will confess that he has become, 
or agree that he is willing to become, a party to this method 
of getting Democrats into ofhce. 

'• It may be — though I would not impute such a motive to any 
Democratic Senator — I have thought sometimes that there 
might be gentlemen, connected with Congress possibly, or 
outside Democrats of influence, who had an interest in help- 
ing to hold down the lid of the box in which these secrets are 
buried, because if it were opened it would show that they had 
participated in this work. 

" I think there must be in these files a great deal of matter of 
which the President is ignorant, a great many confidential 
papers wnich he withholds from us that he has never seen him- 
self. I am bound to believe that is true, from the knowledge 
I have of the contents of some of them, or I am compelled to 
believe that he is utterly insincere in his public utterances as to 
his methods of administering the appointments to otlice. 

" And now to turn from the grave to the gay. This non-par- 

1 tisan civil service administration has turned Republicans out 

because they were on committees, or published newspapers, or 



230 THE LIFE OF 

took some active part in campaigns. A friend of mine sent 
me the other day this post-otlice heading : it is a little post- 
ofiice in Greene County, Indiana. 

"Mr. Edmunds. — A Democratic post-office at the present 
time.'^ 

" Mr. Harrison. — I suppose so. He was appointed on July 
20, 1S85, and I believe no Republican has been appointed 
since that date. The printing is as follows : 

"'James H. Quinlan, P.M. 
" ' Post-office at Lyons, Greene County, Indiana.' 

" On this side (exhibiting) is a picture of Cleveland and 
Hendricks, with the words under it, ' Oin- benefactors.' I 
suppose the possessive pronoun refers to the postmasters, and 
not to the public generally. Some Republican postmasters 
were, I understand, convicted of offensive partisanship, and 
turned out because, during the last campaign, they had a picture 
of the late Honorable John A. Logan, our candidate for the 
Vice-Presidency, displayed in the office. That was thought 
to evince offensive partisanship, and without being allowed to 
prove whether it was a likeness or not, they were turned out. 
There were some of those campaign pictures of General Logan 
that I think a man might have raised an issue on. But here a 
Democratic postmaster is not guilty of offensive partisanship 
when he puts on a post-office letter-head the name of the 
Democratic President and Vice-President with the legend, 
' Our benefactors.' The Postmaster-General's head ought to 
have been on there, because that is a fourth-class post-office," 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 231 

Civil Service Commission. 

'' J/r. President: My colleague (Mr. Voorhees) mistakes 
the issue. The issue is not v^'hether it is an appropriate thino- 
that there should be Democrats in office or not. It is not 
whether, in the absence of law, it would be a just subject of 
criticism if the Secretery of the Interior, or any other head of 
a department here, appointed Democrats, or Democrats exclu- 
sively, if you please. The question here is one of the admin- 
istration of the law, and a law that had a distinguished 
Democratic origin ; though I am sorry to say it has never had 
much Democratic support, and the fact of originating it has 
been very creditable to its originator. 

" The question here raised is as to the faithfulness of the 
administration of tlie law ; and upon the facts I have before 
me, I do not intend to say that, on the part of the commissioners 
who are here appealing to Congress for some additional cleri- 
cal force, there has been a maladministration or a corrupt 
administration of it. The investigation to which reference 
has been made is not yet concluded, and I am not one of those 
who rush into the discussion of a case until the evidence is 
closed. It does not appear, however, according to the facts as 
stated by the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Ingalls), that some- 
how or other, under the operations of this civil service law 
and the rules which have been made for its enforcement, 
which have in most cases required that only the three or four 
leading persons, the three or four highest upon the list, should 
be certified, — by some process or other, this has been accom- 
plished in the Pension Office, namely, that seventy-two out of 
seventy-seven men, who have been selected under the law from 



232 THE LIFE OF 

lists furnished by the Civil Service Commission, have been 
Democrats, and that the other five are found without any 
politics at all. 

"That is true. That may be consistent with an impartial, 
non-partisan administration of the Civil Service bureau. It 
may be so. We shall know more about it when we get 
through with the investigation which has been inaugiu'ated on 
that subject. It is true, undoubtedly true, that prior to the 
passage of the civil service law, both on the part of the Re- 
publicans and the Democrats, when they were in power, the 
great bulk of the appointments were made of the political 
faith of the person having the appointing power. 

"• I know nothing about that. I did not rise to enter any 
complaint, and should not have said anything on such a sub- 
ject, except for references that have been made by other 
Senatoi^s. 

"•If the Civil Service Commission need these clerks, as the 
chairman of the committee having that subject in charge assures 
us, I am willing to give them to them ; and if it shall be found 
that the office is in some way administered so as to give a par- 
tisan turn, so that while things are put promiscuously and 
fairly into the mill, nothing but Democratic results come out — 
when we have ascertained that fact, then it will be time enough, 
so far as I am concerned, to arraign the commission, and to 
hold them to that just responsibility to which the country will 
hold them, if it is found to be the result of any maladministra- 
tion or fraudulent administration of the law. 

" I desire simply to say that it seems to me this commission 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 233 

should not be composed of men who are supposed to repre- 
sent interests. The words which I move to strike out, would 
imply that there was to be a railroad man on the commission, 
perhaps a railroad president or officer, and that there was to 
be some one representing the agriculturists, some one repre 
senting the manufacturing interests, and so on. If this com- 
mission is to accomplish the good which is expected of it, it 
should not be made up of men who represent particular inter- 
ests. We should not have there some one who understands 
that he is the representative of the railroad companies, and 
some one else that he is there as the representative of shippers 
who desire lower rates. We shall have no wise consideration 
of this question, and no useful recommendations, in my judg- 
ment, from such a commission. I believe the President should 
be left free to choose men who will represent the general 
interests of the whole country, rather than to choose men who 
will stand for special interests. Therefore I move to strike 
out these words." 



Seacoast Defense. 
" There is another thing we want done. We want our sea- 
coast ports put in a position of defense, so that it will no longer 
be possible for some third-rate power of South America to run 
an ironclad in and put our cities under contribution. For the 
brutal treatment that was meted out to us by England, when 
our hands were full by reason of the great civil conflict, we 
have accepted a recompense in money ; but no nation must 
repeat that experiment with our patience. We must also save 
enough revenue to put on the sea a navy worthy of this great 



234 THE LIFE OF 

Nation, and capable of maintaining our old-time prestige on the 
ocean. We will no longer have our shame-faced naval officers 
creeping into foreign ports in wooden hulks, the laughing 
stock of all who see them. Republicans have been trying to 
do this for a good while, but while the Democrats had control 
of the House of Representatives they refused to make the neces- 
sary appropriations, because they said they could not trust a 
Republican secretary to spend them. Well, when they got a 
secretary of their own the Republicans were more magnani- 
mous. We said he was not a whit better or a whit honester 
than our man was, but we are American citizens ; and we 
walked grandly forward and gave them, to be expended in the 
construction of ships, all the money that a parsimonious 
Democratic House would let us give them." 

Speech at Indianapolis, December 30, 18S7. 

" In connection with this surplus of about one hundred mil- 
lions a year, there is danger ; there are dangers of profligacy, 
of expenditure, and others that require us to address ourselves 
promptly and intelligently to the question of a reduction of 
our revenue. I have said before I would like to have that work 
done by the Republicans, because I would like to have it done 
with reference to some great questions connected with the use 
of the revenue, about which I cannot trust my Democratic 
friends. I would like to have our coast defenses made secure ; 
I would like to have our navy made respectable, so that an 
American naval ofhcer, as he trod the deck of the ship bearing 
the starry banner at its head in any port throughout the world, 
and looked about upon her equipment and armament, might 
eel that she wa s a match for the proudest ship that walked the 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 235 

sea under any other flag. I wouUl like to feel that no third- 
rate power, aye, no first-rate power, could sail into our defense- 
less harbors and lay our great cities under tribute. I would 
like to feel that the just claims of the survivors of the Union 
Army of the war were made secure and safe. Therefore, I 
have a strong preference that this work of the reduction of our 
revenue, internal and external, shall be conducted by Republi- 
cans." 

A plea for the union of Temperance forces : 

" But to those more practical Temperance men who do not 
demand the unattainable, the Republican party appeals in 
this campaign. If some of us will not engage to accept the 
goal you have in view, need we part company till we reach the 
forks of the road? It would not have been good military tac- 
tics for Grant's army before Petersburg to have refused to unite 
in an assault until his soldiers could agree upon the precise 
terms of reconstruction. The first duty in hand was to whip 
Lee. The Liquor League is entrenched in this State behind 
the Democratic party and the legislative gerrymander. It has 
levied its assessments to create campaign funds for Democratic 
uses, and to corrupt legislatures. The Republican party has 
boldly declared that its repression must be shaken off, and its 
corrupt influence in politics destroyed. Is not that a work in 
which all men who favor temperance reform can unite? Can 
such aflbrd to divide when that issue is presented?" 

On the evening of October 5, 1887, a meeting was held in 
Indianapolis, in honor of Messrs. O'Connor and Osmond. 



236 



THE LIFE OF 



During the evening, Mr. Harrison was loudly called for, and 
spoke, in substance, as follows : 

" The hour is already so late that I shall detain the audi- 
ence but a moment. I am glad to have had the opportunity 
to hear the distinguished guests of the evening — men who in 
the British Parliament stand for Home Rule in Ireland. They 
have given me much fuller information than I had before of 
the oppressive ciiaracter of the coercion acts. I was glad, also, 
to know that the Irish people have siiown such a steady and 
self-contained adherence to their riglits, and such steadfastness 
in the assertion of them by lawful methods. We know that 
Irishmen have many a time, in the struggle of their native 
land, and in our fight in America for free government, thrown 
themselves upon the liayonet of the enemies of liberty with 
reckless courage. It is gratifying to know that they can also 
make a quiet but unyielding resistance to oppression by Par- 
liamentary methods. I would rather be William O'Brien in 
Tullamore jail, a martyr of free speech, than the Lord Lieu- 
tenant of Ireland, in Dublin Castle." 

Why another change of administration is desirable : 
"Our Democratic friends are now inclined to withdraw the 
suggestion that a change is a good thing, but I believe the peo- 
ple, in view of broken pledges and disappointed hopes, are 
willing to make one more. But if the ho])es of individual bene- 
fit from the election of Mr. Cleveland have been disappointed, 
has any gain come to the Nation ? Has its honor or its credit 
been lifted up? Have we any more reason to be proud that 
we are Americans? Has our diplomacy gained us increased 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 237 

respect? Has patriotism and loyalty been recrowned? No, 
my countrymen. The tlag has dropped to half-mast in honor 
of a man who was not only disgracefully unfaithful to a civil 
trust before the war, and a rebel during the war, but who, 
from a safe haven in Canada, sought by his hired emissaries to 
give our peaceful cities to the flames. An unrestored rebel 
was named to represent this country at the court of St. Peters- 
burg, unmindful of the fact that the Czar was on our side dur- 
ing the Rebellion. The courts of Europe were canvassed to 
find a place for a man who had declared the government he 
was to represent a " bloody usurpation." Our fishermen are 
badgered in Canadian waters, while the peaceful retaliatory 
powers confined by law to the President are unused. So gen- 
eral has been the condemnation of our diplomatic dealings 
with Mexico, that our distinguished Secretary of State is said 
to believe that the whole country has entered into a conspiracy 
against him, while the Jockey club in Mexico has debauched 
his special envoy. The dying appeal of Mr. Tilden was not 
enough to arouse the patiiotism of a Democratic majority in 
the House to make an appropriation for our coast defenses. 
The modest bill for new war ships — carrying $6,500,000 — 
was, by decree of the Democratic steering committee, reduced 
to $3,500,000, under a threat that it should not otherwise have 
consideration. Wounded and deserving soldiers have been 
expelled from public oflices upon a secret charge, and their 
I appeals to know the character of the charges have been treated 
by an arrogant head of department with contemptuous 
silence." 




"^{j /^r;^ V fi^-^ 



?•^^:^^^^^-. 



^^^''''^ 






PART II 




LEVI PARSONS MORTON. 



Part Second. 



LIFE OF LEVI PARSONS MORTON. 

♦ 



Chapter I. 



ANCESTRY. 

A PASSENGER ON THE SHIP ANN — A SETTLER IN MIUULEBORO', MAS- 
SACHUSETTS — LATER GENERATIONS A BIRTH IN MAINE — RE- 
MOVAL TO VERMONT SCHOOL AT MIDDLEBURY, VERMONT 

,' STUDIES FOR THE MINISTRY REMOVAL TO SHOREHAM — ANOTHER 

FAMILY OF MASSACHUSETTS REMOVAL TO ADDISON COUNTY, VER- 
MONT THE FIRST AMERICAN MISSIONARY TO THE HOLY LAND — 

MARRIAGE THE FOURTH CHILD HIS NAME. 

In 1623 the good ship Ann cast anchor just ott' the Massa- 
chusetts shore Among her passengers was a young man of 
sterling piety, who sought the freedom to be found in the New 
World, and whose name was George Morton. This man set- 
tled at Plymouth. 

But his son, John Morton, became one of the famous 
"twenty-six men " who bought the lands at Nemasket, and 
settled the town of Middleboro'. He was the first deputy to 
the General Court of Plymouth, in 1670, and was chosen again 
in 1672. 

16 



242 



THE LIFE OF 



According to accounts which seem accurate, the house he 
built before King Philip's War was saved from the conflagra- 
tion, when the town was burned during that war, on account 
of friendly acts done to the Indians, and remained standing 
until but a few years ago. According to other accounts, that 
hrst house was burned in the war, and another was built imme- 
diately afterwards, which was not destroyed until about 1S70. 

This man's son, tl^ second John Moiton, bought extensive 
tracts of land, and enlarged the house which became famous 
as the " old Morton House." 

A Mrs. Morton was living in the house about 1750. She 
was a member of the First Congregational Church, of JSIiddle- 
boro', and distinguished for her piety and social influence. 
She was a woman of great hospitality. Her home was the 
home of the clergymen who visited the church. On one occa- 
sion, when a couple of ministers called near the dinner-hour, 
she placed before them what she had, remarking that she had 
not time to prepare more. " But, gentlemen," said she, " if 
you ai'e good Christians you will be thankful for this ; if vou 
are not, it is too good for you." 

So the ISIortons and their descendants lived for generations, 
— one of the noble, patriot families of the Commonwealth on 
whose shores " American liberty raised her first voice." 

Two characteristics marked the people of Massachusetts. 
both in the earlier and later days : an intense piety and an in- 
tense patriotism. It has been said that they abused the former 
by linking it with the spirit of persecution. However that 
may be, the spirit of liberty was not wanting in any part of 
their natures, even in their religion. They only asked that the 



LEVI P. MORTON. 243 

society which they hail established eiijov its liheitN without 
molestation by doctrines from other societies. The shores of 
the New World were long, and the fields were wide, and they 
had no objection to the presence of others near them, but in 
separate communities ; they would even unite with others in 
the common defense of civil and religious libcrtv. This sort 
of persecution — which rose in self-defense, in the belief that 
doctrines were essential, and that foreign teachings would 
tlemoralizc and ruin them and their children — was far difier- 
ent from that which had been carried on against them in En- 
gland, to compel them to conform to other teaching. 

This peculiarity was manifested in civil, as well as in relig- 
ious affairs. The Puritans were aggressive in matters of hu- 
man liberty ; but not in matters of doctrine or philosophy, civil, 
social, or religious. In those things they merely desired lib- 
erty. English persecution, on the other hand, has always been 
the manifestation of the assumption of authority of class over 
the conscience and libert^• of class. Daniel Webster, in later 
years, taught, with the Declaration of Independence, and 
according to the assumption of the Constitution of the United 
States, that men are already free and equal, and that govern- 
ment should be for the defense of this liberty, not to compel 
men to conform to anything civil or otherwise. Antl it ma\- 
be noted, in the history of the Federalist, National Republican, 
Whig, and Republican parties, that their greatest rallyings of 
their forces, and their greatest uprisings, have l)een when the 
principles of liberty were in danger, and not when they 
sought to enforce conformity of any sort. The latter char- 
acteristic belongs strictly and solely to the Democratic party, 



244 



THE LIFE OF 



and its greatest illustration is the War of the Rebellion. 
Every Whig sought conciliation until 1854, and many of them 
until Sumter was fired on. Then, the danger arising, they 
arose in defense of liberty. 

Such was the spiiit of the people, among whom George 
Morton and his descendants have not been insignificant. 

One of the later Mortons moved to Maine, and there a son, 
Daniel O. Morton, was born to him. He removed, while this 
son was yoimg, to Middlebury, Vermont, and there he brought 
him up strictly, and in the later Puritan faith. He gave him a 
good education, sending him imtil he graduated, to Middle- ' 
bury College. 

Daniel O. Morton thus became a strong, self-reliant, sturdy 
man, ready for any kind of life that Providence seemed to point j 
out to him. He became a Congregational minister. When 
he had graduated, and was ready to enter on the life of a min- 
ister, he settled in Shoreham, Vermont, in 1S12, and there he 
remained as pastor for many years. He afterwards became 
pastor of the church at Springfield, Vermont, and afterwards 
at W^inchendon, Massachusetts. He became a powerful 
preacher, but noted more for his earnest, indefatigable pastoral 
work, and faithful and learned teachings, than for great elo- 
quence. He seems to have gone quietly along, content to teach 
the humble in his parish, and utterly without that restless am- 
bition that often characterizes those in public life, to acquire 
more notoriety. There is extant a pamphlet written by him, 
in which is described the great revival at Springfield about 
the year 1S3S, and it is, perhaps, his only published work. 
There was another Massachusetts family — that of Rev. 



LEVI P. MORTON. 245 

Justyn Parsons. He moved from Western Massachusetts and 
settled in Addison Count}-, Vermont, not far from Middle- 
bury. He had a son named Levi, who also became a minister 
— educated, and a man of talent and culture and piety. Levi 
Parsons was associated with the Rev. Mr. Fisk, and the two 
were the first American missionaries to the Holy Land. Mr. 
Parsons died in 1824, and was buried in Alexandria, Egypt. 

A daughter of the Re\. Justyn Parsons, sister to Levi, as 
pious and accomplished as her brother, was a liglit and comfort 
to the household when they moved to Vermont. But she there 
met the young student, Daniel O. Morton ; they became en- 
gaged, and about the time he was to enter on his duties in 
Shoreham, they were married. The young minister took his 
bride to the rough and small village, and together tliey began 
the task of making out of it a typical New England village. 

The New England villages have a characteristic quietness 
and steadiness and culture, due, more than to anything else, to 
the long pastorates of faithful ministers. A young man en- 
tered upon his pastorate when the village was young ; he won 
the confidence of the quiet people ; the young at last all came 
more or less under his influence ; he officiated at all weddings, 
and all funerals ; he patronized the public school ; he encour- 
aged every kind of knowledge ; he set the example of beautify- _, 
ing his home by adornments of quiet art; and so ten, twenty, 
thirty, forty, and fifty years passed, and there was a quiet vil- 
lage nestled among tlie shade-trees, having a cleanly appear- 
ance, and somehow an air of culture ; and the minister himself 
could scarcely tell how the touches of modern art and taste 
became mingled with the earlier adornments until lie could 



246 THE LIFE OF 

not perceive where one ended and the other began, so imper- 
ceptiljly and Gradually had the changes come by the influence 
of the spirit he had given them years before. This is the typical 
New England village, with its cottages, and even with its mills. 

Such, with the differences required by local circumstances, 
was Shoreham. The village was not in the centre of the stern 
Puriti^n society, but, with a few others in that region which 
were established by such influences, was isolated from it by the 
Green Mountains. It was situated on the shore of Lake 
Champlain, midway nortli and south between Ticonderoga 
and Crown Point, which were on the opposite side of the river. 
Here it was more accessible to the influences from the mouth 
of the Hudson, than to those from Massachusetts Bay. Never- 
theless, the little village quietly grew under tlie care and vigil- 
ance of the village pastor and his faithful associates, and their 
influence was greater than any from other sources. 

To the voung couple were born, as many quiet years went 
by, six children — four daughters and two sons. Four of 
these are living to-day, and a daughter and a son are dead. 
This son, Daniel O. Morton, died at his home in Toledo, 
Ohio, December 5th, 1S59, at the age of forty-four. He was 
a graduate of Middlebury College, and had achieved consider- 
able fame in Ohio as an able lawyer. He was appointed by 
President Pierce United States District Attorney for Ohio. 
Some years before his death, he manifested that independence 
and patriotism that belonged to the people from whom he 
descended in a characteristic manner. He had been a mem- 
ber of the Democratic party, and one of its conscientious sup- 
porters. At the mutterings of rebellion and arrogance on the 



LEVI P. MORTON, 



247 



part of the South, and tlie disloyal apologies for it on the part 
of Democrats of the North, he deliberately separated himself 
from the party, and announced his purpose to stand by the 
government and the Union, at a time when the act involved the 
bitterest persecution from old friends. 

Levi Parsons Morton, the fourth child, was born at 
Shoreham, May 16, 1S24. This, it will be seen, was in the 
same year in which the missionary died at his lonely post and 
was buried in Alexandria, and it may be tiiat that fact had 
something to do with naming the boy. 







Chapter II. 



THE BOYHOOD OF MORTON. 

THE preacher's SALARY — A FAMILY OF EIGHT — HOW TO EDUCATE 
THE CHILDREN THE COMMON SCHOOL AT SHOREHAM THE IN- 
FLUENCE OF HOME — COUNTRY STORE IN ENFIELD A TWO YEARS' 

PRACTICAL SCHOOLING APTITUDE FOR BUSINESS — HABITS 

MIND — ANOTHER COUNTRY STORE —A MARK OF EMPLOYER'S CON- 
FIDENCE BRANCH STORE IN HANOVER DARTMOUTH COLLEGE 

— FOUNDATION FOR FUTURE SUCCESS FIRST VOTE AND POLITICAL 

VIEWS — ANOTHER ADVANCE IN 1849. 

Levi's father was poor ; and he modestly chose a humble 
station, even for a minister. His salary was but six hundred 
dollars a year ; a small amount, indeed, for the living of a fam- 
ily of eight, and the education of six children. 

Levi was born at a time when his father's cares and expenses 
had increased, and were still increasing, by reason, not only 
of the added number to the household, but of the accumulat- 
ing demands of living, benevolence, and enterprise as the vil- 
lage grew older. He was scarcely able to attend the country 
school when the sixth child was born ; and the expenses of the 
education of his elder brother at Middlebury began to drain 
his father's purse. He was just nine years old when his 
brother graduated at the age of eighteen ; but his father was 
not able to let Daniel's mantle of fortune fall upon Levi's 
shoulders, for he must not only pay the graduate's expenses in 
the office of Payne & Wilson, Cle\eland, Ohio, where he 



LEVI P. MORTON. 249 

pursued legal studies, until after his removal to Toledo, and 
the beginning of his practice in 1837, ^^'*^ nmst bear the 
increased burdens of a family of growing children, anil of a 
larger parish. 

With his small income, it was impossible for Mr. Morton to 
give his other children the advantages he had given the first. 
It became, indeed, a serious problem how to provide for them 
and educate them at all. True, he and his wife were edu- 
cated and could teach ; and in this home-school the children 
would always be under the best of influences. But the poor 
have little time or opportunity for giving their children direct 
courses of instruction ; and the poor minister and his wife 
especially, are not spared such time and opportunity from the 
varied home and parish duties. Yet what training could be 
given in that way, was given, and at least the moral and relig- 
ious influences should not be lacking. 

It thus came about that the boy, Levi, did not receive a col- 
lege education, and that he did receive good home-training 
instead. But he was also enabled to attend the common 
school in Shoreham, and this was all the school-training he 
ever received. That he made use of his talents, was a faith- 
ful pupil, and applied himself well, can easily be believed 
from his subsequent career. His teachers had no more 
promising pupil, and he justified their expectations. 

Levi Morton furnishes in his life an illustration of the effi- 
ciency of the American home — the homes built by those ruled 
by conscience alone, and having broad, independent ideas and 
spirit to impart to their children. 

Meanwhile, as the boy grew up, he had to assist in bearing 



250 THE LIFE OF 

the common burdens. He could not attend school at Spring- 
field, nor at Winchendon, for this i-eason. Soon after arriving 
at the latter village, it became necessary that he should earn 
wages ; and to this end, he resolved to pursue a course that 
would lead him, by way of study, discipline, and experience, 
to those heights of culture that had been denied him through 
the schools. He was not of that cool and calculating business 
temper that has no ends in view but wealth, at any cost. His 
youthful eye looked longingly upon that culture, and no doubt 
on that fame, from which he had been debarred by lack of 
wealth, and wealth he determined to have as a means to the 
coveted end ; and judging from his subsequent career, he 
determined, also, that when he should become rich, he would 
not deny to others what the rich had practically denied to him. 

At the age of fifteen, he went to Enfield, Massachusetts, on 
the Swift River, and entered as a clerk, a country variety 
store, kept by Mr. Ezra Gary. Here were sold dry-goods, 
groceries, crockery ware, tin ware, and everything that people 
might want, for the village was not large enough for stores I 
doing special kinds of trade. 

Here he remained two years. He had a natural aptitude ] 
for the .business, and he was faithful and trusty. His em- 
ployer could leave him in charge for days, when he wished, 
and matters would go on and prosper. Young Morton found 
the two years were to him the same as two years of schooling. 
He brought not only what he had learned at home and in the 
country school into practical use, but he gained both training and 
knowledge. He l)ecame a ready calculator, and began also to 
learn the larger principles of trade, looking out for the inter- 



LEVI P. MORTON. 25 1 

ests of his employer in many ways. Witli Levi Morton tlie 
proprietor's business was as iiis own. He had come there to 
help, to clerk, to take oversight frequently, and he conscien- 
tiously strove to do his work well. 

Besides this consideration, he had business habits that served 
him here in good need. True, no good habit can be so well 
formed but that it be improved. He might have learned 
merely to follow his business tastes by habit, but then he would 
have become a mere machine, and his tastes but part of the 
machine. The habit of always bringing original inventive 
business foculties to bear on one's business life makes the 
mechanical in one's life impossible; aiid, in his line, Levi 
Morton had inventive faculties. He had a fertility of resource 
that gave promise of his future success. He carried his home 
principles into everything he did ; a stern integrity, a consci- 
entiousness, a firm confidence in the machinery that produces 
results when set in motion by wisdcjm and prudence. l^his 
was his apparent coolness ; but it was rather, in fact, the steady 
control of giant forces. 

At the end of two years, he closed his work with Mr. Cary, 
and went into a store at Concord, New Hampshire, owned by 
Mr. W. W. Esterbrook. Here was a larger store, a larger trade, 
and here he received larger wages. The same fidelity that 
marked his course in Enfield, he manifested in Concord, and 
he also proved himself fully equal to his additional tasks. 

The confidence his new employer had in him was soon to 
be shown in a marked manner. They had not been together 
many months, before Mr. Esterbrook sent him to establish a 
branch store in Hanover, New Hampshire, and conduct it him- 



252 THE LIFE OF 

self. It was no ordinary good fortune, and no ordinary show 
of appreciation for a young man. 

Hanover w'as on the Connecticut River, and was the seat of 
Dartmouth College. Its glory over ordinary villages, there- 
fore, was no assumption ; while its society, if not fastidious, 
was yet not satisfied with lack of culture and intelligence 
among those with wdiom it dealt, or whom it admitted to its 
circles. It is no small tiling, therefore, to say that it opened 
its heart to the young merchant. Professors and students be- 
came his friends, and they, and the rest of the elite of Han- 
over, were glad to have his presence on occasions of 
intellectual or social assembling ; for he had a natural grace 
and refinement that made him welcome in the homes of the 
rich, and made the poor his friends. 

Thus young Morton found himself under the best influences 
that Dartmouth and Hanover could afiord ; for his associations 
were not of that class that detract from steadiness of life. He 
attended strictly to his business ; he never lost sight of the fact 
that others' interests were bound up in his own ; and, besides, 
he had no tastes for that companionship which did not in spirit 
harmonize with the seriousness of his aims in life. He sought 
rather the society of the cultivated, the thoughtful, and the con- 
scientious. It can also be understood, from his birth and 
bringing-up, that he had a natural taste for that stern devotion 
that marked the lives of cultivated church-people in that day. 
Yet, w^ithal, he was genial, companionable, and broad of mind 
and heart. He was not narrow nor bigoted in any sense. 

In Hanover, Mr. Morton gained his first practical insight 
into the details of the commission business ; and here he no 



LEVI P. MORTON. 253 

doubt laid the foiuidations of his broad phinsof life that brought 
him great returns of wealth. He dealt fair!)- and honestly. 
He managed the business with skill and enterprise. He 
attracted, by his gentlemanly manners and enterprising meth- 
ods of conducting his store, the trade of professors, students, 
and all other classes. His goods were of the best quality. He 
also thoroughly satisfied those whose goods he was handling ; 
and he won for himself a reputation for business integrity and 
capability that was to be of no little service to him in time to 
come. So he remained in Hanover, giving entire satisfiiction 
to all with whom he dealt, until he was twenty-five. 

Before this time, Mr. Morton had cast his first vote, in 1S4S. 
He had always had his convictions on the public questions of 
the day ; and though he was so far removed from the great 
centres of conflict, yet he lived right in the midst of the peo- 
ple who had descended from those who had taken, at first, 
the deepest interest in American principles, and where that 
interest had never waned. He had always been a Whig, 
and his first vote was cast for Zachary Taylor. 

He w^as among those that w^ere always serious in political 
matters ; and he never could understand how men, claiming to 
have the interest of the country at heart, coukl toy recklessly 
w^ith the rights of the people. Hence he deplored the clinging 
to the Whig cause of politicians for personal or local interests, 
as had been the case since the da3'S of Jackson. He believed 
the Whig cause would prosper better without them, in work 
and in numbers. There w^ere many honest and true patriots 
in the United States whose minds were 'confused by these 
parasites. They knew the professions of the Whig party ; but 



254 LEVI P. MORTON. 

when these so-called friends manifested more trickery than 
principle, some of them having made speeches in behalf 
of better principles than they afterwards regarded while in 
office, these genuine patriots revolted from the idea of Whig 
purity. When there was evident conniving at corruption 
for the sake of gaining votes, these men could not believe 
in Whig sincerity. These things in that day, as in this, were 
called " politics," and condoned because they were " politics," 
and " politics " was right. But Mr. Morton did not believe 
in that kind of politics. He believed that manipulations might 
always be made on honest basis ; and that a party with such 
principles as the Whig party professed, need not be ashamed 
of them anywhere, and that honest and open avowal of them, 
and open work for their success, would at last call the better 
elements of the government to rally around the Whig standard, 
He believed that people with American principles predomin- 
ated in America. Believing as he did, he was of just the 
right material to put into the foundation of the new party that 
should afterwards rise, composed largely, perhaps almost alto- 
gether at first, of the very best of American patriots. 

In 1849, there was another change in Iiis personal affairs. 
He gave up the store at Hanover, and went to Boston to enter 
the large business house of Messrs. Beebe & Company, as clerk. 
So far, his march from boyhood was attended with success. 
Nor was his star destined to grow dim. 



Chapter HI. 



BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL RECORD. 

" BEEBE & company" JOINED BY MR. MORGAN MR. MORTON A 

RESIDENT PARTNER IN NEW YORK DEATH OF HIS FATHER 

"MORTON & GRINNELL " — FIRST MARRIAGE A FINANCIAL 

FAILURE — A NEM^ FIRM AN HONORABLE DEED — MR. BLISS 

ENTERS THE FIRM "MORTON, ROSE & COMPANY," LONDON — 

DEATH OF HIS WIFE — YEARS OF BRAVERY UNDER AFFLICTION 

ANOTHER HAPPY MARRIAGE "HALIFAX AWARD" STORY 

OF THE RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENT. 

The real business life of Levi P. Morton began in 1849, 
when he received an invitation to become clerk in the large 
dry-goods commission house of James M. Beebe & Company, 
Boston, which was, at that time, one of the largest and most 
reliable firms in New England. 

He continued as clerk for the firm two years ; and that he 
gave perfect satisfaction is witnessed by the confidence mani- 
fested in him in various ways, on the part of his employers, 
and especially by a promotion that came to him at the end of 
the two years. 

On the ist of January, 1S51, Mr. Junius S. Morgan, who 
had been a member of the firm of Plowe, Mather «S: Company, 
of Hartford, Connecticut, entered the firm of Beebc iS: Com- 
pany, which then became Beebe, Morgan & Compam . 

About the same time, young Morton's first two years with 
the house ended, and he was now made a member of the firm. 



256 THE LIFE OF 

One year after, in January, 1852, the firm opened a branch 
package house in New York City, and Mr. Morton was 
detailed as resident partner and manager. 

It was in that year that his father, Daniel O. Morton, died 
in Bristol, New Hampshire, whither he had removed from 
Winchendon in 1842, and where he had done efiective work 
as pastor of the Congregational Church. Thus passed away 
one of the strong pillars of the later Puritan faith ; a defender 
of civil and religious liberty in its broadest, truest sense, and a 
conservator, in his life and teaching, of much that was good in 
past systems of social and religious doctrine. 

Subsequently a memorial tablet was erected in the church 
at Bristol. It was of the finest, and most highly polished 
Italian marble. It was three feet four inches wide, by six 
feet high. On the top were molded scroll cornices and a 
Gothic cross. The whole was upheld by sculptured brackets. 
The following was the inscription : " In memory of the Rev. 
Daniel Oliver Morton, Pastor of the Congregational Churches 
in Shoreham and Springfield, Vermont, and Winchendon, 
Massachusetts, from 181 2 to 1841, and of this church from 
June 8, 1S42, to the day of his death, March 22, 1852. ' They 
that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever 
and ever.' Erected by his son, Levi Parsons Morton." The 
tablet stands to-day, one of the monuments to the devotion of 
the son to the memory of his father and his principles. 

Mr. Morton served as New York partner of the Boston 
house until January i, 1854. On that date both he and Mr. 
Morgan withdrew from the firm. Mr. Morgan became a part- 
ner in the American banking house of George Peabody & Com- 



LEVI P. MORTON. 257 

pany, London, When, in 1S66, Mr. Feabody retired, the 
firm became J. S. Morgan & Company, and remains under that 
name. Mr. Morton, on the day of his withdrawing from the 
firm ofBeebe, Morgan & Company, established the dry-goods 
commission house of Morton & Grinnell, on lower Broadway, 
New York, succeeding to the business of J. C. Bird & Com- 
pany. 

Here, as senior partner, Mr. Morton widened his sphere of 
business experience, and of knowledge of finance and men. 
He manifested the same tact and shrewdness that had hitherto 
characterized him ; and the habits of faithfulness and watchful- 
ness, acquired in caring for others' interests, now came to him 
as a reward in caring for his own. 

Two years after entering into partnership with Mr. Grin- 
nell, Mr. Morton was married. He was just thirty-two years 
old ; but he had not before considered himself ready for the 
sacred alliance. He had now been but two years really inde- 
pendent In business. His mind had not, indeed, been so 
entirely engrossed with business that he was not before sus- 
ceptible to the influences of love ; but his thoughts had evi- 
dently formed an ideal home and companionship incompatil)le 
with his circumstances, while he felt himself in any wise 
dependent upon others in his business affairs. He now telt 
that the time of realization of a well-appointed home had 
come. 

The young lady was Miss Lucy Kimball, daughter of Elijah 
H. Kimball, of Flatlands, Long Island. She belonged to one 
of the best families of Kings County. She was \ery beautiful, 
17 



258 THE LIFE OF 

gifted, and accomplished. She was a leader in society. 
Withal, she was noble-minded, tender-hearted, and benevo- 
lent. Wherever there was suffering to l)e relieved, Lucy Kim- 
ball was found, if it was possible for her to be there. So true 
a woman was well fitted for the companionship of Levi P. 
Morton, who had set his heart on finding a wife for his ideal 
home and the sharing of his life. She became a faithful wife, 
and greatly assisted in making his life a still greater success. 

Morton & Grinnell did a good business until 1S61. In that 
trying year, with many other houses, they failed. Mr. Morton 
desired to pay every cent, but it was simply impossible, and a 
settlement had to be eftected at fifty cents on the dollar. The 
settlement was open, and all that could be asked at that time. 

Meanwhile, in 1859, his mother had died. The family had 
been broken up on the death of his father in 1852, and his 
mother had been dependent upon her children. She had 
received no little support from her honored and successful son, 
whose love for his parents, and whose liberality had been man- 
ifested in many ways. She had now been living in Philadel- 
phia for sometime, and was there at the time of her death. 

In this same year, also, his brother, Daniel O. Morton, of 
whom mention has been made, died in Toledo. He left a son 
and a daughter, now in some measure dependent upon their 
uncle, into whose family they were adopted. Mr. Morton 
provided for them as if they were his own children, secur- 
ing for the daughter the best instruction, and placing the son | 
in business as soon as it was possible for him to do so. He 
made him clerk in the firm of Morton & Grinnell until the 
failure. The daughter grew up one of the brightest ornaments 






LEVI P. MORTON. 359 

of the social circles in which she moxed, and one of the com- 
forts of her uncle's home. She was sul)se(iuently married, at 
Newport, Rhode Island, to Ernest Chaplin, of England, whose 
brother was a member of Parliament. 

After the failure, Mr. ]\lorton, though not discouragetl. was 
nominally out of business until 1863. In that year he estab- 
lished a banking-house in New York Citv, which was known 
as that of L. P. IMorton & Company As was to be expected, 
in view of his experience and financial al)ilit\. he made money 
rapidly, and it w"as not long until he had retrieved all he had 
lost. He became prominent in the financial circles of New 
York City and the whole countrv. Large transactions, that 
foreshadowed those of greater fame and national good that 
came afterwards, brought him into notice as a financier. It is 
to be said for him that he never engaged in any transactions of 
a doubtful nature, or that brought suspicion upon his house. 
He was where he had every temptation to make himself rich 
faster and by doubtfid methods ; but he went straight on 
through lawful channels, and kept his opportunities always in 
view. 

One day he issued invitations to the creditors of the late 
firm of Morton & Grinnell, to attend a banquet provided by 
him for them. They came, and when they sat down to din- 
ner, each creditor found under his plate a check for his full 
claim, with interest, signed by Mr. Morton. It is needless to 
say that, wdiile his character for strict honesty was well known 
to them, and while the act was one that might have been 
looked for from such a man as they knew him to be, they were 
greater triends to him than ever, from tluit time. 



26o THE LIFE OF 

He was not legally bound to pay those claims. There had 
been no calls upon him to do so. Failure to pay, in such a 
case, was so common that men had ceased to look for it, and 
society had learned (to its own discredit) to still regard it as j 
moral, merely because it was legal, and to. consider men who 
refused to pay their debts when they became able to do so, as jj 
respectable. But Mr. Morton had no mere legal definition of 'I 
morality, and would not screen himself with one. He had 
been brought up in a school of integrity, and had not forgot- 
ten his early lessons. 

In January, 1869, Mr. Morton was joined by Mr. George 
Bliss, and the firm became IMorton, Bliss & Company. It 
may be remarked that, in this case, as well as in others, Mr. 
Morton was both shrewd and fortunate in the choice of a 
partner. Mr. Bliss had been for many years engaged in the 
dry-goods trade. He was first in the firm of Phelps, Chitten- ij 
den & Bliss, afterwards in that of Chittenden, Bliss & Com- 
pany, then Phelps, Bliss & Company, and then George Bliss 
& Company. His capital share, when he entered into part- 
nership with Mr. Morton, is said to have been $2,500,000. 

The same year, Mr. Morton founded the banking house of 1| 
Morton, Rose & Company, London. His principal partner ;j 
was Sir John Rose, who, at one time, had been Finance Minis- 
ter of Canada. The transactions of this house, in connection 
with the New York house, were large from the first, and it 
immediately won a wide reputation. Ernest Chaplin subse- 
quently became a member of this firm. 

About the year 1870, Mr. Morton bought the splendid "cot- 
tage " at Newport, known as " Fair Lawn." It was situated 



I 



LEVI P. MORTON. 261 

upon Bellevue Avenue, which, though not so attractive then 
with costly villas as now, was the most heautiful residence 
street in that beautiful resort. Here he hoped for the l)etter 
health of his wife, but was doomed to a most sorrowful disap- 
pointment. 

In 1S71, while at Newport, his wife died. IIow deeply he 
felt the loss of the one dearest on earth to him, can only be 
understood by remembering how deep and strong ran the cur- 
rents of his social and domestic nature, and his sensibilities. 

He returned to New York, and after a time, contimied in 
business at the bank. It w^as not necessary in order to keep 
alive his aflection, that he should give way to grief at every 
return of the thought of the loved one gone. Lucy Morton 
had been a faithful Christian, full of good w^orks ; and her 
husband '' sorrowed not as those who had no hope." It was 
but natural that he sought society and companionship ; that 
his affections led him, whenever consistent, into the presence 
of his friends, and that these affections grew stronger as 
months went on. 

Nor is it any w^onder that this man of society and sense 
should have among his friends noble representatives of the 
fairer sex, and that liis broad heart, never forgetting, luit 
always fondly cherishing, the love of former years, found yet 
room for one who, in many ways, reminded him of one 
departed. 

In Poughkeepsie lived the family of William I. Street, one 
of the famous and most respected families of the Hudson 
Valley. In that family was a daughter, accomplished, refined, 
versatile, of broad and noble thought and feeling, and full ot 



262 THE LIFE OF 

tact and grace. She was very beautiful, aud a leader in her 
circle. She was a blonde, with fascinating smile and features, 
and winning ways. She had gray-blue eyes, full of thought 
and of transfixing, but gentle, qualities. But, notwithstand- 
ing all her accomplishments, talents, and natural charms, she 
was tempted into no devoteeism of fashionable society, 
wherein the mind was lost in the study of the art of appear- 
ance, or into no girlish reliance upon a pretty face and pretty 
eyes and pretty ways, to give her a "place in society." vShe 
had no spirit that fawned at the feet of" society," praying for 
recognition, nor did she feel that her "recognition" already 
secured rested upon insecure favoritism on account of wealth, 
family prestige, or any other mere circumstance of life, so that 
she must be always watchful of these interests alone, lest she 
should lose her position. Nor did her reputation for accom- 
plishments rest upon a diploma. She was not, in the popular 
sense, a "sweet-girl graduate," and had not come with a 
bound from the boarding-school hall into the arms of society, 
with an implied demand of favors. She did not belong to 
that class of society that honors for any mere circumstance, but 
she belonged to that class that delights in the companionship of 
culture, because it is cultivated itself, and is exclusive only in the 
sense of recognizing, through a feeling of kinship, those who are 
cultured, without taking the trouble or thought to exclude those 
who are not, as society, on the basis of merit and no barriers, 
adjusts itself. She could, therefore, appreciate merit in the 
lowest, and liked to have it near her; but she could appreciate 
those most, who had most merit. If she was invited by 
devotees of fashion to a banquet, she went, if the motive for 



LEVI P. MORTON. 263 

the invitation she did nut kno\v to l)e dishonoring ; and w liat- 
ever was of merit in that company she thoroughly enjoyed, 
and whatever was not, she revoked from. Whatever refine- 
ment they had, she had, and more. She loved society and its 
banquets for the sake of the merit and kinship found in it, not 
because it was " society." Without knowing it, she was equal 
to every social task or emergency, and she never had a dream 
of remaining " out of society," or "in society," because she 
could not, or could, " appear well." There was no fear of 
blundering if she went too far, and so there was no need of 
that newspaper palliation, " she does not go much into 
society." And thus she found entrance through every door, 
not because the footman was convinced that she was one of the 
elite^ but because she could lay her hand upon every latch, and 
open and enter and command glad welcome. It was genuine 
culture and refinement, downright ability and tact. 

Miss Street was beyond twenty-five — mature in native 
powers, and in accomplishments of mind and heart. She 
met Mr. Morton at Poughkeepsie, and found in his great abil- 
ities and trained powers of mind, heart, and spirit, a kinship 
closer than she had ever found before. In 1S73 they were 
married. She began to prove herself a help in life meet for 
such a man. She became the sunshine of his home, a faitliful 
wife, afiectionate and painstaking in ordering the home. 

From that time Mr. Morton's life was even more of a finan- 
cial success ; for all the world knows the power of the social 
circle, even in trade ; and none appreciates the importance of 
that element more than his wife appreciated it, as she strove to 
use every honest influence for his success. Mrs. MortcMi is 



264 THE LIFE OF 

the highest type of what an American hidy and wife may 
become. 

In 1S76, Mr. Morton entered more actively into poHtical life 
than he had ever done before. He had never, indeed, failed 
to have a keen interest in the atlairs of his conntry, and his 
counsel and advice had been sought and given in the political 
concerns of the Republican party, especially of New York. 
The benefit of his counsel and labor was very great. His 
political life, as begun in the year mentioned, will be more 
fully given hereafter, but that year he rendered some business 
service to the country that deserves to be recorded. 

This was in the matter of the " Halifax Award," which 
was the claim of Great Britain against the United States, and 
its acceptance — under protest — by our government, as a 
result of the treat}- of Halifax on the fisheries question. The 
demands of England were not believed to be just ; but to avoid 
quarreling, and perhaps something more seri(nis, the United 
States decided to pay the claim, at the same time explaining 
through our envoy that it was done for peace and friendship, 
and not in the belief of its justice. 

The following shows ]Mr. Morton's part in the transaction. 
It is a copy of the draft, and shows how large had become his 
business in that year. Mr. Morton hung the copy in his pri- 
vate office at No. 28 Nassau Street, New York, merely as a 
copy of a large draft. 

Legation of U. S., London, -i 
November 2, 1878. J 
Dollars 5,500,000. 

Pay to the order of the most honorable, the Marquis of Salisbury, 
her Majesty's principal Secretary of State fur Foreign Aftairs, five mil- 



LEVI P. MORTON. 265 

lions, five hundred thousand dollars in gold coin, and charge the same 
to State Department special account. 

Joiix Welsh, 
Envoy Exfraoidiuary and Mi/iis/cr Plenipotentiary for the United 
States to Great Britain. 

To Messrs. Morton, R(jse & Co., 

B. inkers, Bai tholoinew Lane, London. 
Endorsed across the face: £1.127,847, 4-9, accepted payable at the 
Bank of England, J5 November, 187S. 

Morton, Rose & Co. 

This is the th'aft to pay it : 

London, November 21, 187S. 
Messrs. Glynn, Mills, Currie & Co. : 

Pay to Halifax fishery award or bearer, one million, one hundred 
and twenty-seven thousand eight hundred and forty-seven pounds, 4-9. 

Morton, Rose & Co. 

Endorsed : Pay to the Government & Co. of the Bank of England. 
Salisbury, for the Government & Co. 
of the Bank of England, 

F. May, Chief Cashier. 

When the story of the war and the decade and a hah" that 
followed is cori^ctly written, it will be seen that there were 
men of great fiiith and patriotism who were not upon the 
bloody battle-fields. There were those in public life, and those 
in priv'ate life, who stood by the soldiers, and without whose 
powerful aid the war for the Union would have been a failiue. 
Too much honor cannot, indeed, be given to the brave men 
who risked their lives facing the enemy's guns. But too much 
honor cannot l)e bestowed on those who, standing at the helm, 



266 THE LIFE OF 

kept the ship afloat and bearing between the breakers until the 
storm was over and the clear sea was reached ; even though 
they stood wdiere the waves of battle did not dash over them. 
Had the ship gone down, it would have carried them with it 
into the gulf of ruin — of conscription and death. For every 
one knows that there was no indication, in treatment of pris- 
oners or in any other manner, that our enemies would have 
been so lenient with us, had they been the victors, aS we have 
been with them. And had these men at the helm left their 
posts, as some did, they would have saved themselves from 
every danger. But Chase and Sherman, and sucli men as Mr. 
INIorton, were not men to leave their posts. 

Mr. Morton was not in a position, during the war, to render 
that assistance to our government which he was afterwards 
able to render. But, with the exception of the months pre- 
ceding, and those immediately following the beginning of the 
war, those were not the dark financial times. Our darkest 
financial period was that wdiich succeeded the panic of 1873. 
It was through that period that Mr. Morton assisted in piloting 
our ship through dangerous waters. The suspension of specie 
payment in 1863 was the indication of financial disaster, but 
the successful issue and putting on the market, in that year, of 
the United States notes, tided the government over that difli- 
culty ; however it portended future ruin in case the master 
hands should be taken away. 

The Democrats, during the administrations immediately pre- 
ceding the war, had systematically drained the National 
Treasury, so that the task of furnishing supplies to carry on 
the war was apparently hopeless. It became necessary, early 



LEVI P. MORTON. 267 

in January, to issue some kind of paper money as the liasis of 
the operations of the government. The (lel)ate on the legal- 
tender clause of the bill providing for this issue followed ; the 
clause, through the etlbrts of Secretary Chase and Senator 
vSherman, was retained; the bill passed, February 2=;, 1S62, 
authorizing the issue of $150 000,000 of notes not bearing in- 
terest, payable at the Treasury of the United States. There 
were other issues ; and thus provision was made for carrying 
on the war. 

But after the war, the questions of refunding the national 
debt and of resuming specie pavment arose. Tlie latter was 
not believed either possible or expedient by the majoritv of 
the members of Congress, or by the majority of the people of 
the United States. But there were men who saw that only in 
this way could the country be brought out of the danger of 
periodical financial disaster, and perhaps of ruin. 

In 1874, a committee of nine, having John Sherman as 
chairman, was appointed by the Republican caucus in Con- 
gress, to "secure concurrence of acticni " on the part of 
Republican members. They agreed on ;i bill fixing the time 
for resumption Januarv i, 1879, and the bill was passed Jan- 
uary 14, 1875. This Init served to increase the panic in the 
country, and people believed tliat the hard times were caused 
by the measure. They were encouraged in that faith by 
political managers of other parties, and every possible effort 
was made to induce the relinquishing of the purpose of 
resumption. 

But brave legislators antl officers, like John Shcrnian. in con- 



26S THE LIFE OF 

stant counsel with brave business men, like Levi P. Morton, 
said that resumption would be successfully accomplished. In 
April, 1877, Secretary Sherman wrote to banking houses in 
New York City, and announced his purpose to sell bonds to 
secure coin with which to meet the redemptions required, pro- 
vided the surplus revenue proved insufficient to enable him to 
redeem the notes as required by law. This but increased the 
storm of opposition. But they went on. In October of that 
year, during the special session of Congress, thirteen bills 
were introduced in one day, to repeal the resumption act. One 
such bill, in November, passed the House, but the House 
would not agree to the amendment subsequently made to it by 
the Senate. 

On April 5, 1S7S, negotiations were begun in New York 
with certain bankers, for the sale of four-and-a-half per cent, 
bonds. Those bankers would not venture ; but on that day a 
svndicate proposed to take $50,000,000 at 100 1-2. This 
syndicate was headed by Morton, Bliss & Company, and fol- 
lowed by Drexel, Morgan & Company, Baring Brothers & 
Company, J. S. Morgan & Company, N. M. Rothschild & 
Sons, and Jay Cooke, McCulloch tS: Company. 

These firms neing known, inspired confidence, and resimip- 
tion was assured. The payment was promptly met. Treas- 
urer Sherman reserved of the proceeds of the sales of four per 
cent, bonds now being made, an additional amount of 
$5,500,000 in gold coin, for the payment of that amount on 
account of the Halifax fisheries award. 

It is enough to state that instructions were given to the 



LEVI P. MORTON. 269 

officers of the Treasury of the United States, to close up, in 
their accounts, all distinction between coin and currency, and 
after January to recognize that the government had resumed 
specie payment, and that no difference in values existed 
between the several kinds of money in circulation. On the 
I St of January, so little coin was demanded in payment from 
the Treasury, and so much coin was brought in, that the gov- 
ernment held more coin in the evening than in the morning. 

Thus, by the assistance of financial friends of the country, 
we were able to see the dawn of an era of prosperity that four 
years of a political blundering policy has not been able to 
materially darken. It is thus illustrated how a man, apparently 
obscure, because he never thrust himself upon public attention, 
but went quietly about the duties of his life, became a potent 
influence in the life of every man in the nation. 





MRS. LEVI PARSONS MORTON, 

WIFE OF THE HON. L. P. MORTON. 



Chapter IV. 



CONGRESSIONAL EXPERIENCE. 

A SURPRISE TO MR. MORTON NOMINATED FOR CONGRESS A REDUC- 
TION OF DEMOCRATIC VOTES NOMINATED AGAIN AN OVER- 
WHELMING MAJORITY A PROMINENT POSITION IN CONGRESS 

SOME BILLS HE INTRODUCED SPEECH ON THE UNLIMITED SILVER 

COINAGE BILL — SPEECH ON THE BILL FOR EXCHANGE OF TRADE 
DOLLARS WITH LEGAL-TENDER DOLLARS SPEECH ON APPRO- 
PRIATION FOR INTERNATIONAL FISHERY EXHIBITION — CHARAC- 
TERISTICS OF THE MAN IN HIS SPEECHES A SOCIAL SUCCESS. 

In 1876, while the Tilden tide was rising in New York, Mr. 
Morton, living in practically a Democratic district, received 
quite a surprise. It was rather late in the season, and it was 
to be supposed that the man to be nominated for Congress 
would have had some intimation of the intention on the part 
of his friends. But without warning, he was nominated for 
Congress in the Eleventh District ; and was expected to make 
a canvass for congressional honors. Moreover, Mr. Morton 
did not profess to be a speaker. He could talk at the fireside, 
or in the council room ; and his counsel was always good, and 
when his suggestions were carried out, effective work was 
done. But he had had little experience in stump speaking. 

Nevertheless, he would not disappoint his friends ; and so 
he resolved to do what he could to stem the extraordinary 
Democratic tide. He made as thorough a canvass as was pos- 
sible in the short time. His voice was heard, even from the 



272 THE LIFE OF 

stump, as well as on all private occasions, when consistent, in 
favor of the Republican party and principles. His influence 
was felt in the organization of the district and in the counsels 
of the party. The result was that he took 400 votes from the 
usual Democratic majority. It was really a victory, and was 
the beginning of greater success to come afterwards. 

In 1878, Mr. Morton was appointed Honorary Commis- 
sioner to the Paris Exposition. There were some positions 
that he felt himself especially adapted for, and this was one of 
them, although it was but honorary, and did not call out his 
full talents which lay in that direction. That was reserved for 
the future. Yet to be, in any sense, a representative of Amer- 
ica to France, requires more than a mathematical or system- 
atic business talent. It requires an address and tact that are 
the result only of a geniality of spirit and broad personality. 
Frenchmen may have French ways of thinking and conform 
to French customs without these qualities, but Americans can- 
not do so without them. 

In the fall of 1878, encouraged by what was really a suc- 
cess before, Mr. Morton consented to make the race again for 
Congress. Having now ipore time, and the cause, if possible, 
more than ever at heart, he made such a vigorous canvass that 
he received a larger majority than the number of all the votes 
of his opponent. 

He moved to Washington, and took his seat March 18, 1879, 
in the Forty-sixth Congress. The houses were convened 
by President Hayes, " in anticipation of the day fixed by law 
for their next meeting," because the Forty-fifth Congress had 
adjourned "without making the usual and necessary appropri- 



LEVI P. MORTON. 273 

ations for the legislative, executive and judicial expenses of the 
Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 18S0, and 
without making the usual and necessary appropriations for the 
support of the Army for the same fiscal year." 

Mr. Morton immediately took a high position in the legisla- 
tive counsels and work, and came to be relied on, especially in 
questions of finance. He introduced, during that term, sev- 
eral bills, some by special request. Among them were the 
following : 

By request of the Chamber of Commerce of New York 
City, a bill for correction of certain errors, and amendment of 
customs-revenue laws. 

By request of the American Geographical Society, a bill 
authorizing the Secretary of War to detail an officer of the 
Army to take command of the expedition fitted out by Messrs. 
Morrison and Brown, citizens of New York, to search for the 
records of Sir John Franklin's expedition, and to issue to such 
officer army equipments. 

A bill to amend a certain section of an act approved June 
20, 1878, entitled "An act making appropriations for sundry 
civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending 
June 30, 1879, and for other purposes." 

Mr. Morton, April 3i, 1879, was appointed on the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Afiairs, and served acceptal>ly and with 
distinction on that committee until his return home. 

It will be remembered that his taking his place in Congress 

l| was but a few weeks after the resumption of specie payment, 

and that his part in that successful and triumphant measure 

,' was not unknown by his colleagues. To this fact may be 

18 



274 THE LIFE OF 

attributed, in part, at least, the high esteem in which he was 
considered by them, and the confidence had in him especially 
on financial and foreign questions. To return, his successful 
canvass in the fall, for his seat, may have been due, largely, 
to his prominent and successful transactions in behalf of the 
government, that were at that time going on. 

Mr. Morton reported, from the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs, and took great interest in, a bill relating to treaty nego- 
tiations with Rvissia, as to American Israelites holding land in 
Russia. A certain Israelite had established a large trade in 
sewing machines in Russia, had bought a large establishment 
for carrying on the manufacture and sale of the machines, and 
then found that he could get no title of his property. The 
bill was introduced with a view to remedy that evil. It was 
changed so as to include all American citizens, and was passed. 

Mr. Morton took an active part against the bill introduced 
by Mr. Warner, of Ohio, providing for the unlimited coinage 
of silver. The following speech by him, will not only explain 
the bill itself, but show Mr. Morton's general position on the 
financial questions that agitated the countiy at that time, 
and his regard for the rights of the people as against great 
private interests and monopolies : 

" Mr. Speaker : In behalf of the district I have the honor 
to represent on this floor, a district second to none in the 
United States in the magnitude of its business and property 
interests, I desire to protest against the passage of the bill 
now before the House, which provides for the unlimited and 
free coinage of silver and the unlimited issue of cei'tificates 
against silver bullion. ' 



i 



LEVI P. MORTON. 275 

" I believe, sir, and my constituents believe, that this bill 
meansto-day the repudiation — pure and simple — of one-sixth 
part of all indebtedness, public and private. What the meas- 
ure of repudiation in the future may prove to be, will be deter- 
mined alone by the value of silver bullion. 

" Are the interests of the people to be advanced b\ adding 
to the colossal wealth of the owners of silver mines, or dis- 
criminating in favor of this class of property owners? Will 
the dollar stamp of the United States upon eight3'-four cents' 
worth of silver, belonging to private individuals, add to the 
wealth of the nation, or to the private individual, the owner of 
tiie bullion ? Has the late coinage of silver in excess of the 
amount which has been used as a circulating medium, now 
stored in the vaults of the Treasmy, added to the prosperit\' of 
the country ? Every one w411 answer no ! 

" If this bill is to become a law, it is inevitable that the 
country will be drained, sooner or later, of its gold and coin 
bullion, and that silver will become the sole unit of value, and 
that, instead of a double standard, we shall have a single stand- 
ard, and that of silver. 

"If this bill is to become a law, the German Government 
and all who have silver bullion, the world over, will pour it 
into our mints to receive for every eighty-four cents a legal-ten- 
der silver dollar ; they will make, bv this simple process, 
nearly twenty per cent., and our own people, who will be 
obliged to receive the coins as legal-tenders, will be the losers. 

" Coinage by the government is properly only an official 
attestation of the weight and fineness of the metal stamped or 
coined. A silver dollar thus attested to-day should_contain 



276 THE LIFE OF 

484.4s grains as the equivalent of a gold dollar. The present 
values of silver bullion, in London, is about fifty pence per 
ounce ; until it is worth fifty-nine or sixty pence, the govern- 
ment should have the profit, if the fraud of stamping eighty- i 
four cents as worth a hundred is to continue. 

" If this bill is to become a law of the land, its title should 
be changed to read, ' An act for the relief of the owners of 
silver mines,' antl au appropriation made for the purpose of 
erecting elevators and warehouses for the storage of silver coin 
and bullion. If the owners of silver bullion can have their 
property carried by the government, as this bill proposes, and 
can have certificates of its deposit made a legal-tender for all 
dues to the United States, including custom-house duties, why 
not clothe bonded-warehouse receipts and all other representa- 
tives of property with the same functions of money? 

"My constituents are not the owners of silver mines, but 
they are largelv interested in cotton, wheat, corn, flour, iron 
and copper. Why should not the government receive all 
these and other products of the earth on storage, issue certifi- 
cates, and make them also a legal-tender? And if the supply 
of monev should be still insufficient to ^satisfy the honorable 
gentleman fnjm Ohio (Mr. Warner), receive also titles of real 
estate, issue money certificates, and so continue until every 
species of property becomes a part of the currency of the coun- 
try? Then we can issue for general distribution, pledging 
whatever may remain of the fiiith and honor of the Nation, 
the billion of greenbacks asked for by the reverend and distin- 
guished gentleman who occupies a seat on this floor (Rev. 
De La Matyr, of Indiana) . 



I 



LEVI P. MORTON. 277 

"No, Mr. Speaker, renewed and continued prosperity can- 
not be secured in this manner. 

" The only safe way, in my opinion, is to stop the coinage 
of silver altogether, and to say to the leading commercial 
nations of the world, ' We will not attempt to help you out of 
your troubles until you agree with us to use silver as a measure 
of value. We are ready to enter into such a mutual compact 
with you as will have the effect of restoring silver to its old 
steadiness of \'alue, so that it may again be a measure of other 
values.' 

" Let us not attempt to force the issue of silver beyond the 
amount which can be used as a circulating medium, until 
European nations will join with us in making silver currency 
equivalent in value to gold. Let us rather maintain the honor 
and good faith of the nation at home and abroad ; retain and 
maintain a gold standard, the commercial standard of value 
throughout the world, and, in my opinion, the day is not far 
distant when the city of New York will be the clearing-house 
for the commercial exchanges of the world." 

Mr. Morton took part in the discussion of the bill " to pre- 
vent the exportation of diseased cattle, and the spread of con- 
tagious and Infectious diseases among domestic animals." lie 
submitted a letter from gentlemen in New York, setting forth 
the inefliclency of the laws on that subject then in force, and 
praying for a law that would protect honest men in exi)orta- 
tions, and their honor as well as that of the country. 

He also made a speech against the bill introtkiccd by Mr. 
Fort, of Illinois, providing for the exchange of trade dollars 



278 THE LIFE OF 1 

for legal-tender dollars. The following is his speech upon 
that question : | 

"Mr. Speaker: — A few weeks since, the honorable gen- 
tleman from Ohio introduced a bill for the relief of the owners 
of silver mines and silver bullion in the United States and 
Europe, and now the distinguished gentleman from Georgia j 
(A. H. Stephens, who had reported back the bill from the 
Committee on Coinage, Weights and Measures) presents a bill 
for the relief of the subjects of the Emperor of China. 

" In February, 1873, when the act was passed authorizing tht- 
coinage of the trade dollar, it was worth a fraction over $1.04 
in gold. They were not coined as money, or for circulation 
at home, but for export, and as a measure of value in trade, as 
their title indicates. _ They were, however, made a legal-ten- 
der for $vOO in any one payment ; but the people of the Pacitic 
States objected to their circulation, and on the 8th of May, 1876, 
the distinguished gentleman, now Speaker of the House, 
introduced a bill repealing the legal-tender quality of these 
coins. 

"On the loth of June, 1876, my distinguished colleague 
from New York (Mr. Cox) reported the measure, and it 
passed both Houses of Congress without an opposing vote or 
voice. All of these coins held at home were put in circulation 
months after they had, by the action of the present Speaker 
and the gentleman from New York, ceased to be a legal-tender 
for any amount. 

" While I should favor an exchange of legal-tender silver 
for the trade dollar which speculators have palmed off upon our 
citizens, if that alone could be done, I am opposed to the pas- 



a 



I 



LEVI P. MORTON. 379 

sage of this bill, which discriminates against our people and 
in favor of the owners of silver in China, and for other reasons. 
The Director of the Mint, in his last annual report, estimated 
that not less than six millions of trade dollars, all of which 
were coined for exportation, were held in the United States, 
and about thirty millions in China, where they circulate as 
money, and are, I believe, a legal-tender at their bullion 
value. The trade dollar is worth to-day al)out ninety cents, 
which would make the value of the thirty millions held in 
China, worth $27,000,000. Now, if this bill becomes a law, 
we shall, so long as the government can maintain legal-tender 
silver dollars at par in gold, be paying to the holders of trade 
dollars in China $30,000,000 in gold for twenty-seven millions' 
worth of silver, or $3,000,000 more than we can buy the same 
quantity of silver for of our own citizens. 

" The first silver bill which the honorable gentleman from 
Ohio presented, proposed a discrimination in favor of silver 
mine and bullion owners in the United States and Europe, 
of nearly twenty per cent., and now the gentleman from Geor- 
gia proposes a discrimination of eleven per cent, in favor of 
Chinese subjects. I shall be glad to know how the gentleman 
proposes to provide the thirty millions in gold necessary to 
carry out the provisions of this bill, if it becomes a law. The 
gentleman certainly cannot expect to exchange dollars ot 412 
1-2 grains with the trade dollars of 420 grains. 

" Since the demonetization of silver in 1878, the government 
has coined 33,485,950 of the ' dollars of the fathers,' which it 
was claimed would be eagerly sought for, and how many ol 
these dollars does the gentleman suppose was in circulation on 



38o ■ THE LIFE OF 

the I St of June ? One dollar for every family or party of six 
in the United States, a total of 7,304,915 in a country with a 
population of 45,000,000, leaving 36,181,045 stored in the 
vaults of the Treasury, and carried by the government. 

••' At the end of the next fiscal year, without any new legis- 
lation, we shall have 59,485,950 silver dollars, and if the peo- 
ple have no more anxiety to secure them than heretofore, the 
government will then be warehousing and carrying al)out 
forty-seven millions. 

"If the 36,000,000 of trade dollars are to be added, the 
appalling total on the 30th of June, 1880, will be over ninety- 
five millions. 

" Do the gentlemen who favor this measure wish to donate 
$3,000,000 to the holders of trade dollars in China.'' Do they 
wish, in view of the sale for gold coins, since the demonetiza- 
tion of silver in 1873, of $1,299,000,000 of United States 
bonds, and the reduction since 1865 of nearly six hundred mil- 
lions of principal and sixty-seven millions in the annual inter- 
est charge, to press the increased coinage of silver, and hazard 
the credit of the government by adding a sum to the amount 
of silver coin in the vaults of the Treasury, which may force 
the government to pay these bonds in depreciated silver, or 
coin of less value than that which the government demanded 
and received when the bonds were sold ? 

"Mr. Speaker, I think our only safe way is, instead of 
increasing the coinage of silver, to stop it altogether, and wait 
the result of negotiations with European nations, for which 
we have made an appropriation. Let us secure such joint 
action with other nations as will restore silver to its old steadi- 



LEVI P. MORTON. 281 

ness of value, and thus provide a market throughout the 
world for our silver product. I am in favor of a bimetallic 
currenc}', whenever such joint action can be secured, and a 
dollar's worth of silver is coined in a silver dollar. The dis- 
tinguished gentleman from Georgia, and those who act with 
him, on the contrary, aim to make this country a monometallic 
country ; to drive all our gold to Europe, and to confine the 
silver market to the United States, thus limiting the demand, 
lowering the value of oiu" silver product, and compelling us to 
be monometallists. We cannot maintain a double standard, 
except upon a basis of absolute equality, for the cheaper, 
poorer money will always drive the best out of circulation. 

"The German Government has, within a few weeks, with- 
drawn its silver from the market ; the question of the demone- 
tization of silver in Germany and England has been under 
discussion, and now the bullion value of the standard dollar, 
which was recently at eighty-four cents, is about eighty-eight- 
and-a-half cents. 

"We can, in my opinion, only maintain a double standard 
by joint action with European nations, and any attempt to do 
it single-handed, or to largely increase the coinage of silver 
legal-tender dollars, will, in my judgment, bring great disaster 
upon the business interests of the whole country. 

" I hope the gentleman will be willing to withdraw the bill, 
or to defer its further consideration, until joint action with 
European nations can be secured." 

On the 4th of February, 18S0, during the second session of 
that Congress, Mr. Morton made a speech upon the bill 



282 THE LIFE OF 

favoring an appropriation of $20,000 for the representing of 
the United States in the International Fishery Exhibition, at 
Berlin. The question discussed was not one with which the 
people generally were acquainted; perhaps because politicians 
had not kept it before them. But it was one of much impor- 
tance to the country, nevertheless, as will appear from the 
following outline of Mr. Morton's speech : 

"At first glance," he said, "the proposition to expend 
money in an International Fishery Exhibition, at Berlin, is apt 
to be viewed with indifterence. This indifterence has existed 
for years, and was never more manifest than at this time. 

" The production offish is a source of national wealth. In the 
early history of the world, it was a preventative of famine and 
distress. Experience has shown that, while fish is a luxury of 
the rich, it is preeminently the poor man's food. This is under- 
stood thoroughly in countries where food-production and cheap 
living are carried to the greatest perfection. 

" If properly developed, the price offish would be so much 
lowered, that the man who could not buy would be rai-e indeed ; 
and so little capital is needed for the business that there would 
be suflicient profit left to those who carry it on. 

"One of these exhibitions was held in Norway, in 1865, at 
which the fish of all the great countries, and many of the 
lesser ones, were well represented ; but our country sent only a 
few contributions. ....... 

" The French Government has given so much material aid 
to this business of fish culture, that nearly all her waste waters 
have been turned into nests for the propogation of fish. 



LEVI P. MORTON. 283 

"It is only necessary to call the attention of the public to 
this subject for it to appear that there is not a state which is 
not interested in the matter. 

" Mr. Chairman, not many years ago the vast internal im- 
provements of this country — the erection of mills, dams, and 
factories — threatened the extinction of the most valuable 
species of tish in our rivers. This calamity was prevented by 
the timely discovery of the art of propagating fish by artificial 
means ; and at the sanie time the demand was greatly increased 
through the aid of railroads, which have made transportation 
in a brief time easy between remote points. 

"In 1840— 50, salmon cost twenty times the price it com- 
manded when we ceased to be Colonies of Great Britain. 
The Connecticut River, which had been one of the most fertile 
fish streams in the world, became almost depleted. 

" This result is due to a discovery made in Germany, and 
afterwards in France, that fish can be propogated to almost 
any extent by artificial means. This simple discovery has led 
to the creation of one of the most important industries of 
modern times. The nations of the world have derived incal- 
culable benefit from this discovery, and we are now invited to 
join in an international comparison of the character of our fish 
and the methods of our fish culture. It is to this science to 
which I have referred, and which this resolution is designed 
to encourage and extend, that we owe the restocking of our 
waters — to this we owe the fact that millions of young shad 
were hatched at Holyoke, Massachusetts, and turned into the 
Connecticut River. 

■• In view of the possibilities ot our shores, our measureless 



284 



THE LIFE OF 



streams, and our inland seas, we should lead all the nations in 
the world in availing ourselves of every item of information on 
a subject of such importance to our people and their industries. 
The annual value of salmon alone, in Ireland, is now about 
$2,500,000, while in this country it averages from thirty to 
forty cents a pound. The oyster beds in Virginia alone, 
cover about 1,700,000 acres, containing 800,000,000 bushels. 
The following are a few figures, showing the comparative pro- 
duction and consumption of fish by the leading nations of the 
world : 



Norway, . . 
Fiance, . 
United States, 
Great Britain, 
Russia, . . 



Annual Product. 



$i3,6oo,ocx3 

12,807.000 
8,898 000 
7,803,800 
5,745,000 



Annual Consumption. 



$1,000,000 

9,845,786 
8,777,000 
9,429,000 
8,659,000 



"The United States exported, in 1S74, about $2,200,000 
worth . 

" It appears from this statement that, in 1874, Norway and 
France, each smaller than some of our states, produced re- 
spectively one-third more fish than the United States. In 1862 
the tonnage of American ships engaged in the sea fisheries 
amounted to 204,197 ; in 1874, it had fallen to 78,290 tons. 



"In the fish trade in 1865, Norway had a balance of trade 
in her favor of $12,588,975. Why was this.!* Because she 



LEVI P. MORTON. 285 

resorted to fish production, as it is proposed the United States 
should do. 

"In 1867, we imported about as much lish as \vc exported. 
If we devoted sufficient energy to the business, vvc couUl ex- 
port one hundred times as much, and need imp(M't none at all. 

"■ Fish culture is in its infancy. Its resources are immeas- 
ureable. It may approximate, and even rival, agriculture in 
importance. Its development will give employment to large 
numbers of men, and bring food within the means of the poor 
as well as the rich. The propriety and utility of international 
exhibitions, where the representatives of our nation can learn 
the nature of the products of others, as well as show its own in 
universal market, can no longer be questioned. 

" The naturalization in our waters of European fish is a sub- 
ject that should receive careful attention, and by a comparison 
of views in this body of scientific men much may be learned 
as to the nature and kinds of foreign fish which thrive in our 
waters. ...... 

"This international exhibition is conducted, directly imder 
the patronage of the German Government, by the German 
Fisheries Association, a body consisting of prominent persons 
most eminent in fish culture and fisheries. Almost every 
nation in the world, having diplomatic relations with Germany, 
has accepted the invitation — exceptionally complete exhibi- 
tions being promised by China, Japan, and vSiam. The 
United States alone has given no response, nor made arrange- 
ments to participate. As a matter of international comity, it 
would be eminently proper for the United States to take 
part." 



286 THE LIFE OF 

It will be seen, from the extracts given of this speech, that 
Mr. Morton, while in Congress, took interest in other subjects 
besides those connected immediately with questions of finance. 
And it will be seen, not only from these extracts, but from the 
other speeches given, that he was always on that side which 
favored the interests of the people. No man was ever in a 
better position for influencing legislation in behalf of the 
moneyed classes alone, and hence in his own personal interest, 
than Mr. Morton. He had means at his hand, and could have 
been in league with rich lobbyists. But he was found always 
on the side of the people, and interested in legislation in their 
behalf. 

Another fact appears from the speeches and extracts given. 
Mr. Morton was thoroughly informed on all the leading ques- 
tions before Congress. He did not suffer himself to open his 
mouth nor to vote, unless he knew what he was doing. He 
had not only entered the Congress hall, a well-read, well- 
informed and broadly cultured man, but sought to more 
thoroughly inform himself upon those questions that came 
before him for his conscientious consideration, in behalf of his 
constituents and of the people of the United States. 

Mr. Morton's social career, while in Washington, was most 
brilliant. Of great social spirit and tact, he sought to surround 
himself with circumstances and influences of that nature. He 
realized also that a man may do more eftective work, if his 
talents appear in their own peculiar setting. No man can 
work so well when his environments make it awkward for him, 
as when he lives in that atmosphere to which he has become 
accustomed. 



LEVI P. MORTON. 



287 



Mr. Morton bought the house of Mr. Samuel Hooper, fitted 
it up elegantly but not gaudily — he and his wife were both of 
too pure taste to endure that which was merely for display in 
any of their surroundings — and here lie entertained his 
friends in state, and Mrs. Morton reigned socially. The rep- 
utation of the latter for presiding at social entertainments and 
leading in the social circle, had preceded her to Washington, 
and her home became the, centre of attraction for all who were 
so fortunate as to be included in the long list of her friends. 
She led in society at Washington, as well as she had led in 
society at New York, and her great social qualities, enabling 
her to be equal to every emergency, conduced no little to her 
husband's successful congressional career. 




Chapter V. 



MINISTER TO FRANCE. 

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1880 MR. MORTON DECLINES THE OFFER OF VICE- 
PRESIDENCY DECLINES THE SECRETARYSHIP OF THE NAVY 

ACCEPTS THE OFFER OF MINISTER TO FRANCE — WELL FITTED 
FOR THE POST — REMOVAL OF AMERICAN LEGATION OFFICE — A 
POLITICAL GATHERING PLACE — THE MORTON ENTERTAINMENTS 
IN FRANCE — MRS. MORTON'S SOCIAL TACT AND SKILL — THE 

DISABILITY REMOVED FROM AMERICAN CORPORATIONS THE 

AMERICAN HOG A SERIES OF IMPORTANT ACTS TARIFF ON 

FRENCH ART — BIRTHPLACE OF LAFAYETTE — MINISTER MORTON's 
SPEECH PRESENTATION AND RECEPTION OF BARTHOLDl's STA- 
TUE OF " LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WORLD" — TWO SPEECHES. 

One of the most brilliant periods of Mr. Morton's career 
was now at hand. 

When the Republican Convention of i8So had nominated 
James A. Garfield, of Ohio, for President of the United States, 
it then turned to New York to find a candidate for Vice-Pres- 
ident. The Ohio delegation especially sought out Mr. Mor- 
ton, and urged him to permit his name to be used for that 
nomination. He declined the honor, and the choice then fell 
on Chester A. Arthur. 

During that campaign, which led to such successful issue, 
Mr. Morton, in his characteristic manner, gave the weight of 
his influence to the election of Garfield and Arthur. He did 
this by his frank social manner and skill, by speaking always, 
on public and private occasions, just when there was a demand 



LEVI P. MORTON. 289 

for it, and stating clearly and urging his convictions, and cast- 
ing his whole social, business, and public influence upon that 
side. 

When the ticket was triumphant. President Garfield, in tes- 
timony of the confidence he had always had in Mr. Morton's 
abilities, offered him the port-folio of Secretary of the Navy. 
But Mr. Morton could not be persuaded to accept an office if 
he thought that other men might better fill it, and he therefore 
declined to take the offered position. But when the position of 
minister to France was proposed to him, he accepted it. 

He was not unacquainted with the French capital, nor the 
important work at that time to be done there by the American 
minister, whomever he might be. He knew the tact and di- 
plomacy then necessary to do what ought to be done. Yet he 
knew his own power among people preeminently social, and it 
is to his credit that he desired to lift the American standard 
higher, and to advance American commercial and social in- 
terests, in the sister republic, and also to promote the har- 
mony and friendship of the two nations. Nor is it to his dis- 
credit that he deemed it desirable, with his family, to spend a 
time in France, as there was a culture to be given to his chil- 
dren by means of it, and there were benefits and pleasures to 
be derived from it by his wife and himself. 

So, early in the summer of iS8i,Mr. Morton and his fam- 
ily embarked for the gay French capital. Arriving there, he 
received a cordial welcome, both by French officials and the 
American colony. He at once proved his fitness for the high 
position, by his social and diplomatic tact. His advent into 
France was in the days of M. Gambetta, and he soon won that 
19 



290 THE LIFE OF 

renowned President's friendship and esteem. This friendship 
continued until Gambetta's death, and was not only a source 
of pleasure to Mr. Morton, but was of great help to him as 
minister of the United States. 

Again, Mr. Morton was already well and favorably known 
by the leading men of France. His vast commercial transac- 
tions alone would have been sufficient to bring this about. 
But he had also, in 1S78, been Honorary Commissioner to the 
Paris Exposition. Also, his public services in the United 
States, not only in Congress, but in commercial services, had 
been matters of world-wide knowledge. 

• Add to these Mr. Morton's perfect manners, his suavity, his 
great financial ability, his diplomatic shrewdness and tact, 
his knowledge of men, and it is seen at once that no man 
could have been selected, of greater fitness for the French post. 
It will be seen, in the outcome, that President Garfield mani- 
fested great judgment in sending such a man, and if all the 
appointments of all the Presidents were as fitting as this one, 
the reform of the civil service would soon be accomplished. 

Mr. Morton was able and faithful, and too conscientious, to 
use any office he might have for political influence. Moreover, 
it was characteristic of him that his office became such a part 
of his life that it assumed to him the interest of a social oppor- 
tunity ; and the more he so considered it, the more faithful 
he was in his office. Mr. Morton's duties as minister became 
his chief interest, and his first act on arriving, indicated his 
methods. 

General Noyes, Mr. Morton's predecessor in office, though 
he received a salary of $17,000 per annum, kept the headquar- 



LEVI P. MORTON. 291 

ters of the American Legation in dingy apartments in an 
unsavory locality. It was situated over a laundry and a o-ro- 
cery store on Rue de Chaillot. Among people like the French, 
this was not to be tolerated as respectable. It became a mat- 
ter of ridicule and jest, and during all the time it was there, 
for that and other reasons, American affairs were not highly 
respected ; and many laws and customs existed that worked 
decidedly to the disadvantage of the L^nited States. 

Mr. Morton determined at once on removing the Legation. 
He had no taste for a business whose environments were 
beneath its own dignity, and he had the pride of his own 
country too much at heart to allow, if possible to pre\ent it, 
even the shadow of excuse for its disparagement by the people 
of other nations. He felt himself under obligations to do all 
in his power to accomplish his mission in the best manner, and 
with most credit to the United States. 

Fronting a park known as Place de la Biche, was a magnifi- 
cent mansion, built seven years before by a prince. This was 
secured by Mr. Morton, and furnished in royal style; for the 
drawing-room he furnished with expensive furniture which 
had been ordered by a queen, but who was unable to pay for 
it. This was done largely at Mr. Morton's own expense. To 
this superb building was moved the office of the Legation. 
Thus, almost simultaneously with the presentation of his cre- 
dentials as "Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipoten- 
tiary of the United States in France," the American Legation 
assumed the attitude and proportions that accorded with the 
dignity and importance of the government it represented. It 
won a quick response from the French, and Mr. Morton com- 



292 THE LIFE OF 

manded unbounded respect ; and of these facts the French 
gave immediate evidence by changing the name of the park to 
that of Place des Etats Unis — a rich though merited compli- 
ment to Mr. Morton. 

He began at once to exert a marked personal influence upon 
the French Government. The Legation headquarters became 
the gathering-place, not only of Americans, but of French 
officials and dignitaries. He thus brought together, in social 
relations, Royalists, Radicals, and Republicans, and the diplo- 4\ 
nuitic corps ; and he was thus enabled to smooth the w^ay for * 
his diplomatic success. Mr. Morton showed great tact by this 
arrangement. He knew that an envoy's success depended 
much, especially in France, upon personal friendship and 
social conduct. Hut he was not a hypocrite, and did not cul- 
tivate any friendship for policy ; he was, rather, a friend by 
nature to people of refinement and culture, and had naturally 
a keen appreciation of art, artistic elegance, and all the accom- 
paniments of the social life of the refined and cultivated. Yet, 
in the midst of his keen enjoyment of such a life, he not only 
did not forget, but kept as his chief aim, the mission on which 
he had come ; and it was a marked evidence of his great tact 
that, in all his social intercourse, he met the French people as 
the minister of the United States, and not as a mere gentleman 
of elegance. His friendship for Gambetta was cordial and 
sincere ; but that great man, by reason of no pompous flaunt- 
ing of official emblem in his face on the part of Mr. Morton, 
was ever conscious that his own friendship was for the United 
States Minister to France. 

In this spirit Air. Morton began a series of entertainments, 



LEVI P. MORTON. 293 

given to the Americans in France, and to Frenchmen. These 
greatly increased his popularity. In these he was most ably, 
skillfully, and wisely assisted by his wife. Her matchless skill 
in entertaining has already been spoken of; and it was well, 
while in France, that she had this art. But she used it always 
as an American lady should ; for she did not adopt manners 
nor customs, unless her independent taste and judgment pro- 
nounced them good. An instance of her American way ot 
doing things, in spite of the contrast it made between herself 
and French ladies, may be related of their early days in that 
gay and exactingly polite country. 

The people of Rouen invited the new minister and his wife 
to Si fete of several days. The time was spent in entertainments, 
excursions, and in whatever their entertainers could devise 
for the honoring of their guests. One day there was an excur- 
sion upon the Seine to Yietat, made famous by the songs of Ber- 
anger. There was a party of twenty-five, not the least con- 
spicuous of whom w^as the mayor of Rouen. A breakfast 
was served, and around it were gathered the twenty-five, repre- 
senting vast wealth, and displaying all the ceremony that 
rural Rouen could display. The mayor sat next to Mrs. Mor- 
ton. He desired to propose a toast to her. With great pomp, 
and an airy parade of words, he notified them that, whereas 
Monsieur le Ministre had been toasted nine times the day be- 
fore, and had nine times responded, he must by this time be 
weary with speech-making. He (the mayor) considered that 
Mme. Morton should now be honored, and should have a 
greater part in the festivities. He then made a complimentary 
speech, a nil proposed her health. 



294 THE LIFE OF 

Mrs. Morton here astonished the French people present, by 
an act that gave them to understand at once that she expected 
to totally ignore the social tyranny under which French wo- 
men were compelled to live. vShe was not to be merely a pretty 
figure in society, and to receive compliments thrown at her in 
dumb silence and as a matter of course. She spoke out in fluent, 
idiomatic French, in a truly dignified and gracious and pleas- 
ant manner, but with thorough American courage and inde- 
pendence, and made a neat reply, complimenting the French, 
and Rouen in particular. Her womanliness was acknowl- 
edged at once, and cheer after cheer rang round the table in ap- 
preciation of that and the merit of her reply. It was a bold 
thing to do, but it was a triumph for her and her sex, even in 
France. 

Under the social circumstances now fully inaugurated, Mr. 
Morton began to reap success as minister to France. When he 
made his advent in France, American corporations were labor- 
ing under the great disadvantage of being unable to collect 
any debt that was owing them anywhere in the French Re- 
public, or from any French citizen there of whatever grade. 
Insvu'ance companies, banks, even the Western Union Tele- 
graph Company, were thus at the mercy of Frenchmen who 
refused to pay. It may be a matter of surprise to the un-in- 
formed, but there was only one country that was then under this 
disability, and that was the United States. In the Jourtial 
Officiel, August 9, 1882, was published the decree that 
relieved our corporations from this discrimination. The ad- 
vantage that has accrued to these corporations on account of 
this relief is very great ; and, taking all of them together, and 



LEVI P. MORTON. 295 

their trade in France, an advantage scarcely to be estimated 
has been derived from it by the United States. The Equitable 
Life Assurance Society, the New York Life Insurance Com- 
pany, the Singer Manufacturing Company, and, indeed, every 
company in America that does business in France will to-day 
testify to the great good that came to them by reason of eman- 
cipation from this disability. And let it be remembered that 
Mr. Morton was the sole influence in obtaining such a desirable 
result. 

What was known as the "pork question" was also caus- 
ing some trouble at the time Mr. Morton went to Paris. The 
French ports, as well as other ports, were closed against the 
American hog. This was due to a great European "scare," 
caused by an English consul in Philadelphia. He had heard 
through some source, reliable or unreliable, that some family 
here had been poisoned by trichinae in pork they had eaten. He 
paraded the event before his own government, and the result 
was that the principal European governments prohibited the 
importation of American pork. Thus the "frightened" con- 
sul had succeeded in cutting oft', almost entirely, the exporta- 
tion of one of our chief staples. 

Mr. Morton's predecessor had tried, by all means in his 
power, to have this restriction taken oft', so far as France was 
concerned. He had procured expert testimony — the testimony 
of scientists well-known in France — to show that the Ameri- 
can hog was not unfit for food, and that it was not infested 
with trichiniE. But his eftbrts had been unavailing; and it 
was nothing against General Noyes that they were, as will be 
hereafter shown. But it was much in favor of the personal 



296 THE LIFE OF 

influence of Mr. Morton that he succeeded in doing what 
General Noyes could not do. The decree revoking the prohi- 
bition of American pork was promulgated by the French 
Government in 1SS3, and was published in i\\e Journal Officiel 
on November 27th, of that year. 

Nevertheless, the decree did not immediately become a law. 
It was temporarily over-ruled by a vote of the legislature. 
This, however, but shows how great was Mr. Morton's influ- 
ence with the government. The vote of the legislature 
indicated the strong popular feeling there against the article in 
question. Yet, in spite of this feeling, Mr. Morton was able 
to induce the government to issue such a decree. 

Our envoy had much to do with bringing about the Mone- 
tary Conference that met in Paris in 1882, fourteen govern- 
ments being represented ; and he took an active part in the 
proceedings of the conference. He also bore an influential 
part in the discussions that finally brought about the treaty be- 
tween the powers for the protection of the submarine cables ; 
and represented the United Starts in the convention that was 
signed at Paris, March 14, 1884. by the plenipotentiaries of 
twenty-six governments, having the continued protection of 
the submarine cables as its object. On March 20, 1.883, the 
conference for the protection of patents and trade-marks met in 
Paris ; and Mr. Morton assisted greatly in the deliberations of 
that body, and in bringing about its important and beneficial 
results. Thus, whether it was to influence the French Gov- 
ernment to recede from an attitude inimical to our interests, 
or to explain to our own government the wisdom of better 
policy toward France, or to bring about measures of impor- 



LEVI P. MORTON. 297 

tance in which many governments were interested, or to give 
his voice for harmonious relations of the United States with 
France, or for the interest of France in her policy toward other 
nations — as in the efficient part he bore in the negotiations of 
peace between France and China — Mr. Morton was always 
active in fulfilling his plenipotentiary duties. 

Perhaps one of the most difficult tasks which Mr. Morton 
had to perform was to induce our own government to assume 
a different attitude toward the works of French artists. Had 
he been on our own shores, he could have protested more 
earnestly ; but being a representative of our government, it 
was his duty not to disparage but to exalt his own country and 
all that pertained to it, if he could possibly do so, and not to 
criticise us before strangers. Again, while he was fully in 
sympathy with the principle of protection enunciated by the 
Republican party at home, and with the object to be obtained 
I by that protection — the advancement of American wages, and 
the improvement of American handiwork — lie observed that, 
in cases where skill might be acquired abroad to our own 
honor, and where competition of foreign workmanship was 
more in skill than price, and therefore beneficial, the very 
object might be reached by removing a tariff that protection 
reaches in most cases. 
I This was true in the case of French works of art. Paris 
1 was one of the greatest schools of art. Americans had there 
an equal advantage for becoming proficient with French citi- 
zens. Their works were admitted to exhibition on equal foot- 
ing. Moreover, the removing of the tariff from works of art 
would allow here a competition in production and merit. 



298 THE LIFE OF 1 

rather than in selling. The price of such works, at least 
among those who have the " artist's eye," depends almost al- 
together upon merit, and is not aftected by production, espe- 
cially as the demand must ever be greater than the supply. It 
was therefore no fawning at French feet that led Mr. Morton 
to endeavor to persuade our government to remove the almost 
prohibitive tariff' from French works of art. It was an act 
wholly in harmony with his American spirit, and had in view 
the increased excellence of American production and price. 
His eftbrts in this direction were not entirely successful ; but 
he did succeed in winning the attention and approval of Presi- 
dent Arthur, who communicated his able dispatch to Con- 
gress. I 

In this connection, he was also instrumental in saving 
American artists from a French reprisal which, in view of 
our tariff' upon their works, may have been considered just, 
though it would have wrought some harm to us. The 
French press and artists were loudly demanding this retaliation. 
But Mr. Morton was a lover of art and a friend to artists, and 
by his'friendship and personal relations with them, and with 
the French Ministry prevented them from carrying out their 
design in this matter. He insisted before them, as before our 
government, that art can recognize no language, no national 
boundaries ; and that artists speak to each other by their [ 
works, and are not bound by national ties or prejudices — they 
are a community by themselves. Nor was this high ground 
contrary to his duty in representing a distinct nation. To 
make the members of his nation, and those of the nation to 
which he was accredited, feel a common sympathy and com- 



LEVI P. MORTON. 299 

mon interests, was a large part of his mission. And to hind 
certain classes of the two nations into one class, if possihle, 
was a step toward the accomplishment of his important duties. 
Thus, in every respect our envoy to France sought to im- 
prove the relations between the two governments, and he 
made no endeavor that was not wholl}-, or in part, successful. 
While making no display of his wealth, being unostentatious 
and unassuming, as he had always been in his native country, 
he yet spared no pains or means to do his work well. He gave 
two receptions every year, and he succeeded by these in draw- 
ing around himself such men as became a great advantage to 
him as minister. His name was frequently in the French 
papers, and he was very popular. He upheld our Republic ; 
he gave us such a dignity and prestige before the French Na- 
tion as we never before enjoyed. In 18S2, he was president 
of the Monetary Conference that sat in Paris. He was well 
known as a financier long before he went to Paris. His tran- 
sactions had been in London, Frankfort, Berlin, and Paris. 
He was, before all eyes, a man of integrity and solidity in 
money matters ; and he could not, with any show of justice, 
be accused of making a display of his wealth, as if he had but 
yesterday fallen heir to it. His money had come to him by a 
long course of training and experience in business that had 
formed such habits as precluded the possibility of mere display. 
It was the personal popularity of the man, and the greatness 
of his character, as well as of his tact, that made him the very 
efficient minister that he proved himself. 

On the 6th of September, 1883, the old town of Le Puy, on 
the upper Loire, unveiled the statue of Lafiiyette, whose name 



300 THE LIFE OF 

is more dear to the American heart than that of any other i 
Frenchman. The town was decorated in gayest colors, the * 
stars and stripes mingling everywhere with the tricolor. 
There were several arches of triumph, on the facade of the 
principal one of which, were two inscriptions — one that wel- 
comed Waldeck-Roussean, and the other as follows : 

"AUX ETATS-UNIS. 
"A Levi P. Morton, Ambassadeur." 

At three o'clock the ceremony of unveiling took place, after 
which came the speeches. First, there were two local officials 
who spoke, and then Mr. Morton delivered the following 
address : 

" Monsieur le Maire, Messieurs : I accepted as a privilege 
and a duty the invitation with which I was honored by the 
Department of the Haute Loire, and the town of Le Fuy, to 
be present on this occasion, and to assist in the ceremonies 
connected with the inauguration of a statue of General Lafay- 
ette. I claim for my country, to whom he rendered such ines- 
timable services, a full share in the inheritance of his fame, 
and I rejoice as its representative to unite on this occasion with 
the distinguished members of the government, and with the 
descendants and countrymen of Lafayette, in this tribute to his 
memory. 

"■ I am happy to express to you the devoted and sympathetic 
interest of my government, and the grateful affection of the 
citizens of the United States for the illustrious patriot who, 
next to Washington, of all the heroes of the Revolution, 
awakens in American hearts the deepest sympathy and grati- 



LEVI P. MORTON. 301 

tude. And what is it tliat has won for him the honor, grati- 
tude, and affection of my countrymen? I answer, the princi- 
ples which directed his public life, the invaluable services 
which he rendered my country in the hour of hergreatest trial. 
It was his love of liberty which led him, a youth'^of nineteen 
years, to embrace the cause of American independence, and 
inspired him to say, ' When I first heard the news of the strug- 
gle my heart leaped to your cause with enthusiastic sympathy.' 
And what is it that gives to Lafayette his spotless fame.? I 
answer, his unfaltering devotion to constitutional freedom ; 
for always — whether in the days of the Monarchy, the Em- 
pire, or the Republic — he was ever the consistent advocate of 
the supremacy of the law — ever demanding that liberty should 
be defined and protected by chartered rights. His love of lib- 
erty was a part of his very being — the inspiration of his life. 
" This life-like statue — one of the triumphs of art — around 
which we are now assembled, will recall to generations yet 
unborn the great services which he rendered to the cause of 
constitutional liberty. More than a century has passed since 
Lafayette enlisted in the war of American independence, 
devoting to it his fortune, influence, and life. Would that he 
could this day rise from his grave and look upon the marvel- 
ous results of the work which he and his countrymen took so 
great a part in preparing. Would that he could hear the 
words of respect and gratitude which greet his memory to-day. 
Would that he could look out and see that the two countries 
which he loved and sei"ved so well were never more closely uni- 
ted in sympathy and good will than on this day, when the citi- 
zens of both are here engaged in inaugurating a statue to perpet- 



303 THE LIFE OF 

uate his memory. Only a few weeks have passed since more 
than ten thousand people assembled at Burlington, in my native 
state, to inaugurate a statue of Lafayette, and re-lay the corner- 
stone of the University of the State of Vermont, which was 
originally laid by the illustrious general during his visit to the 
United States in 1825. Among those present were the gov- 
ernor of the state, all the living ex-governors, the president, 
faculty, and trustees of the university, battalions of United 
States troops, of the National Guard of the state, and of the 
Grand Army of the Republic. We have assembled to-day 
for a similar purpose, near the birthplace of Lafayette, and I 
esteem it a great privilege to stand in the presence of, and feel 
that I may claim, both for my country and personally, the 
friendship of the grandson — your distinguished Senator — M. 
Edmond de Lafoyette, and other descendants of the great pat- 
riot and soldier. I will not attempt to even sketch the event- 
ful life and distinguished services Lafayette rendered to his 
native land, or to the nation he sacrificed so much to serve ; 
they form an important part of the history of France and of 
the United States during their struggle for independence. I 
may, however, repeat the prophetic words he uttered to a com- 
mittee of the American Congress, appointed to present him, 
upon his return to France, with a letter addressed to the King, 
expressive of their high appreciation of the services he had 
rendered, when he said : ' May this immense Temple of Free- 
dom ever stand, a lesson to oppressors, an example to the 
oppressed, a sanctuary for the rights of mankind ! and may 
these happy United States attain that complete splendor and 
prosperity which will illustrate the blessings of their govern- 



LEVI P. MORTON. 303 

ment, and for ages to come rejoice the departed souls of its 
founders.' 

" The founders of this Temple of Freedom have long since 
seen the last of earth, but the temple they raised still stands 
in all its matchless proportions, a beacon light to the oppressed, 
a sanctuary for the rights of mankind, and we live to witness 
the realization of his prayer and prophetic words. 

" General Lafayette made two visits to the United States, as 
the guest of the nation, after the War of Independence, — tlie 
first time during the life of Washington, his warm personal 
friend and companion in victory and defeat, and again in 1S34. 
His reception by the government and the people was on both 
occasions a continual ovation from the time of his arrival to 
that of his departure. His name is a household word from 
1 the Atlantic to the Pacific, and will be for all time imperisha- 
bly associated with that of Washington, the grandest character 
in American history. May the friendship formed, on the field 
and in the camp between Washington and Lafayette — typical 
representatives of the grand qualities of the French and Amer- 
ican citizen-soldier — remain unbroken between the two great 
republics until the end of time." 

M. Waldeck-Rousseau followed with a speech, of which the 
following were the important paragraphs : 

"The Minister of the United States has just expressed for 
France sentiments of cordiality and friendship, which cannot 
I go unanswered. I feel bound to thank him warmly for such 
sentiments, and to tell him, in the name of all republicans of 
this department here present, how happy we are, how much 



304 THE LIFE OF 

we are affected to see by the side of us, united in a like senti- 
ment of veneration for that man of whom Senator Vissaguet 
has just spoken so eloquently, the accredited representative of 
that other great democracy, which is the American democracy, 
of that other great republic, which is the Republic of the 
United States, laborious as ours, pacific as ours, and con^■inced 
as we are that free people cannot buy that inestimable boon of 
peace except upon the double condition — to be firmly I'e- 
solved never to undertake anything against others, but also 
never to permit others to undertake anything against them. 

" The democracy of America is the true republicanism, and 
and we should esteem it a happy day for France when we 
arrive — as we believe we are now in the way of arriving — at 
the perfection of a republic such as Washington founded, with 
the aid of our own Lafayette. We seek no aggrandisement 
not founded upon the true development and just protection of 
our commercial interests, and these we hope to be always pre- 
pared to defend." 

Mr. Morton afterwards, on September 12th, sent the follow- 
ing dispatch to the Secretary of State at Washington : 

With true appreciation of what is due to America in the fame of La- 
fayette, the French authorities and the family of Lafayette expressed an 
earnest desire that the representative of the United States should be as- 
sociated with the public tribute to his memory. In response to a mo&l 
flattering invitation from the prefect of the department, the mayor of 
Le Puy, and Senator Edmond de Lafayette, the only one now bearing 
that illustrious name, I esteemed it a duty as well as a pleasure to at- 
tend the ceremonies connected with the unveilng of the statue, which 
were performed with fitting solemnity in presence of high functionaries 



LEVI P. MORTON. 305 

of the PVench Government, of living representatives of the family of 
Lafayette, and of a large concourse of people, including quite a num- 
ber of distinguished Americans. 

I venture to send herewith extracts from newspapers . . . giving 
a full account of the speeches made at Le Puy, and of interesting inci- 
dents of the day. 

You will notice with gratification, I am sure, that the whole pro- 
ceedings evinced in the most flattering manner the existence of a 
strong and true feeling of good-will and amity between France and the 
United States. The French speakers were particularly emphatic in their 
expression of friendsliip for our country and government, and of admir- 
ation for our institutions. These sentiments were expressed not only 
by those who took part in the Le Puy proceedings : the unveiling of 
the statue was the occasion of a general expression of the warmest feel- 
ing of friendship for our government and people. Papers of all grades 
and political opinions have united in bestowing upon our country and 
political sysitem the most flattering eulogies, and in rejoicing over the 
faithful and happy relations which have so long existed between the 
two nations. 

I am satisfied that in the opinion of the masses, as well as 
in the belief of the government, the United States is looked upon as 
the best and most reliable friend of France, the only one from whom 
she has nothing to fear, and perhaps also the only one in whose foot- 
steps she is inclined to follow. 

I have, etc., 

Li:vi P. MuKTON. 



To which the vSecretary of State made reply as follows : 

} 



Department of State, 
Washington, October 1,1* 



Sir,— Your dispatch No. 403, of the 12th instant, giving an account 
of the ceremonies which were observed on the occasion of the unvcil- 



2J 



3o6 THE LIFE OF 

ing of the statue of Lafayette at Le Puj, on the 6th of the present 
month, has been read with great interest. 

Your action in accepting the invitation to be present at the ceremo- 
nies as the representative of this country is heartily approved by the 
President, and he is gratified to learn that the event called forth so 
many warm expressions of the good-will of the people of France to- 
wards the government and citizens of the United States. 
I am, etc., 

Fredk. T. Frelinghuysen. 

On the sth of July, 1SS4, a large ntiniber of French and 
Americans assembled at No. 35 Rue de Chazelles, to witness 
the presentation of Bartholdi's statue of " Liberty Enlighten- 
in<T the World " to the American representative, and the recep- 
tion, on behalf of the United States, by Mr. Morton. 

The following is the presentation speech by Count de 
Lesseps, President of the Union Franco-Americaine : 

"France — monarchial, imperial, or republican — has 
been always the friend and ally of the United States. 
Our work to-day is not political ; it is the work of a hundred 
thousand subscribers ; 180 towns have participated in it ; a 
large number of general councils, of boards of trade, and of 
various industrial societies. The thought which has inspired 
France upon such an occasion has been that of consecrating 
and cementing the friendship between the two countries that 
the vast ocean which rolls between cannot separate, because 
there exists between the two countries so strong a sympathy 
that when difficulties arise they are soon dissipated, so close 
is the sentiment between them. 



LEVI P. MORTON. 307 

" This isthe result of the devoted enthusiasm, the iuleUigence, 
and the noblest sentiments which can inspire man. It is <n-eat 
in its conception, great in its execution, great in its propor- 
tions. Let us hope that it will add, by its moral value, to the 
memories and sympathies that it is intended to perjietuate. 
We now transfer to you, Mr. Minister, this great statue, and 
trust that it may forever stand the pledge of friendship 
between France and the great Republic of the United States.'' 

After this speech, and the playing of the " Star Spangled 
Banner," Mr. Morton responded as follows : 

"■ Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Committee : I am 
directed I)y the President of the United States to accept tliis 
colossal statue of ' Liberty Enlightening the World,' and to 
express the thanks of the government and people of the United 
wStates for the statue, as a work of art and as a monimient of 
the abiding friendship of the people of France, and to assure 
the Committee of the Franco-American Union, the President 
of the Council, and the citizens of the French Republic, that 
the American people return most heartily the friendly senti- 
ments which prompted this noble gift to America. 

" It is proper that I should recall on this occasion the action 
of the government of the United States with regard to the 
statue of Liberty, the completion of which we witness to-dav. 

" When the American Congress was advised that the citi- 
zens of France proposed to erect on one of the islands in the 
harbor of New York, the colossal statue of ' Liberty Enlight- 
ening the World,' it authorized, by a unanimous xote, the Presi- 
dent to accept the gift, and to set apart a suitable site for its 
erection. 



3oS THE LIFE OF 

" The President was also directed to cause the statue to be 
inaugurated, when completed, with such ceremonies as would 
serve to testify to the gratitude of the people of the United 
States for the monument so felicitously expressive of the sym- 
pathy of her sister Republic. 

" The American Congress also ordered provision to be 
made for its future maintenance as a beacon, and for its preser- 
vation and permanent care as a monument of art, and of the 
continued good will of the great nation which aided her in 
her struggle for freedom. 

"The President of the United States set apart Bedloes 
Island for the erection of the statue, and I have received a tele- 
gram from Messrs. Evarts and Spaulding, of the New York 
Committees, stating that the concrete base, fifty-two feet high, 
been completed, and the laying of the granite for the pedestal 
commenced. 

" The thought which inspired M. Bartholdi, the eminent 
author of this triumph of art ; the participation in this gift of 
Senatoi's Oscar and Edmond de Lafayette, the Marquis de 
Rochambeau, and other descendants of the sons of France 
who fought by the side of Washington ; the participation also 
of M. de Lesseps, the illustrious President of the Franco- 
American Union, of his distinguished predecessor. Senator 
Laboulaye, the French interpreter of the American Constitu- 
tion ; of Senator Henri Martin, the great historian, and their 
distinguished associates ; the presence on this occasion of sev- 
eral members of the government, and the representative of 
the President of this great Republic ; the proposal of the 
French Government, through the Minister of Marine, to trans- 






LEVI P. MORTON. 309 

port this statue to New York in a government frigate, and the 
selection of the anniversary day of American Independence 
for this ceremony, will all only deepen the grateful apprecia- 
tion with which your friendly gift will be received by the gov- 
ernment and people of the United States. 

" It was my good fortune, as the representative of my 
country, to drive the first rivet in this great statue, as it is now 
to accept it complete in all its grand proportions, on behalf of 
the President and people of the United States. 

'^ The Committee of the Franco-American Union, of New 
York, which was organized to provide the foundations for the 
statue, will receive it, on its arrival, with the same feelings of 
gratitude and emotion which your friendly action has evoked 
in the heart of every American, and assume the agreeable task 
of its erection upon the pedestal on Bedloes Island. 

" God grant that it may stand until the end of time, as an 
emblem of imperishable sympathy and affection between the 
Republics of France and the United States." 





JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD, 

THE FOURTH REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 



Chapter VI. 



BRILLIANT CLOSING OF MINISTRY TO FRANCE. 

ELECTION OF 1SS4 MR. MORTON PREPARES TO RESIGN INAUGURA- 
TION OF ORIGINAL MODEL OF "LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE 

WORLD " AN EARLY BANqiJET SCENE ON THE PLACE DES 

ETATS-UNIS — PRESENTATION SPEECH BY MR. MORTON RECEP- 
TION BY M. BRISSON — SPEECHES BY M. BOUE, M. DE LESSEPS, 

AND SENATOR LAFAYETTE INVITATION TO A FAREWELL BAN- 

qUET THE TOASTS TESTIMONIES OF APPRECIATION FROM 

FRENCH AND AMERICANS A RESPONSE BY MR. MORTON RE- 
PORTS FROM PARIS AND LONDON PAPERS A PERSONAL TESTI- 
MONY BY PRESIDENT GREVY. 

After the presidential election of 1884, Mr. Morton pre- 
pared to resign his conimission in favor of whomever miglit ])C 
appointed by the Democratic administration. That choice 
was the Honorable Robert M. McLane, of Maryland, ex-gov- 
ernor of that State, who had also served the government in 
varions other capacities. 

But before closing the record of Mr. Morton's career in 
France, it will be due to him, as well as a pleasing task, to 
recount in some detail two important events whicli occurred 
near the close of his residence there, and which reflect 
much honor upon his whole course during the four years of 
his ministry. 

On the 13th of May, 1885, occurred at Paris the inaugura- 
tion of the original model of " Liberty Enlightening the 
World." A committee of Americans had caused it to l)e cast 



312 THE LIFE OF 

in bronze, and this was the day it was to be presented to 
France. It was not so large as the colossal statue then already 
on its way to New York Harbor, but it was considered the 
largest monumental figure in Paris. It was erected on the 
Place des Etats-Unis, just before the palatial official residence 
of the Minister of the United States. 

On that morning, at Mr. Morton's invitation, the principal 
participants in the ceremony partook of such a breakfast as 
he had been noted for giving. There were present senators, 
deputies, artists, diplomatists, and journalists. President Grevy 
was represented by General Pittie. Others were M. Floquet, 
President of the Chamber of Deputies, M. Boue, President of 
the Municipal Council, M. de Lesseps, and M. Edmond de 
Lafayette, grandson of the great general of American fame. 
After breakfast, the company was joined by M. Henri Brisson, 
President of the Council of Ministers, who had been detained 
away until then. There were also present, at the breakfast 
and afterwards, many other eminent Frenchmen, as well as 
many noted Americans. In fact, the great drawing-room was 
filled with important personages. The spirit of the occasion 
was well indicated by Mme. Adam, the renewed editress of 
the Nouvelle Revue, who was present : "I jDut oft' my depart- 
ure for the country until to-morrow, in order to participate in 
this international fraternization. I always wish to do what 
little I can to keep alive the old friendship which has vmited 
the two great republics for more than a century." 

In harmony with this spirit the procession marched out of 
the drawing-room and on to the spacious park, to the strains 
of the "Star Spangled Banner" and '•'•Marseillaise.'''' There 



I 



li 



LEVI P. MORTON. 313 

had gathered such a gay throng as Paris can furnish. French 
and American flags were fluttering everywhere, " while the 
light spring tints of the trees that bordered the square, and a 
sofl: May sun-light spreading over all, contrasted strongly with 
the dusky form of the towering statue." 

Mr. Morton was to make the presentation speech , and wOien 
he rose before the vast assembly for the purpose, he was 
greeted with enthusiastic applause, which was repeated -again 
and again as he proceeded. He spoke as follows : 

" Monsieur le President du Conseil^ Monsieur le Presi- 
dent de la Cha?nbre des Deputes^ jMonsienr le President 
du Conseil Municipal : 

" Gentlemen, Upon the eve of m.y departure, I have one 
more mission to discharge, and that a very agreeable one. 1 
desire to express to you the feelings entertained by my country- 
men on this occasion. In a few days the colossal statue of 
' Liberty Enlightening the World,' the generous gift of the 
French Nation to the United States, will leave the port of 
Rouen, on board the French Frigate Iserc^ and ere long it will 
be erected at the entrance of the harbor of New York, where 
it will stand forever in memory of the friendship which unites 
the two great sister Republics. 

"An American committee in Paris has collected a fund for 
the casting in bronze of the model of this celebrated statue. 
It is eminently proper that this, the original work as it came 
from the hands of your distinguished artist, M. Bartholdi, 
should be preserved in imperishable form in the generous 
country which conceived the noble thought of a monument to 
commemorate the old Franco-American alliance. 



314 THE LIFE OF 

" This bronze statue, oft'ered to you by my compatriots, will 
remain a lasting souvenir of gratitude to France. It is fitting 
that it should be erected where the heart-beating of this great 
nation is felt so forcibly, and in a square to which you have so 
courteously given the name of my country. 

" The city of Paris has most kindly seconded all efforts of 
the committee, and has graciously undertaken the erection of 
the monument. We tender the city authorities our most 
hearty thanks. 

" In the name of my compatriots and the committee, I beg 
you to accept, for the French Nation, this token of our 
sympathy and friendship — sentiments which God grant may 
unite the two countries for centuries to come. 

" In your persons, Mr. Chairman and Members of the 
Municipal Council of Paris, to whom we confide this gift, we 
salute the great capital which we admire and love, and to 
whose manners and usages we have become as accustomed as 
your own countrymen. 

"May this statue of Liberty tend to perpetuate a friendship 
which the changing events of a hundred years have only 
served to strengthen. 

" I desire, gentlemen, before' closing, to avail myself of 
this occasion to express to the municipal authorities of Paris 
my high appreciation of the compliment which has been paid 
my country during my term of office, in giving to this square, 
in 1881, when the United States Legation was located here, 
the name of Place des Etats-Unis." 

For this happy speech Mr. Morton immediately received the 



LEVI P. MORTON. 315 

warmest congratulations from the president of the council and 
other French officials, while the people applauded, as the 
French can when they are pleased. It would be unjust to 
refuse to make public, by giving M. Brisson's response, the 
esteem in which Mr. Morton was held by the highest of those 
officials, and by the French people, as well as the friendship 
he had, in fact, re-awakened and intensified in them for our 
country. 

Said the president of the council : 

" Gentlemen : I congratulate myself most heartily that 
circumstances have designated me to receive, in the name of 
the French Republic, both this magnificent gift of the Ameri- 
can people, and especially the expression of friendly sentiments 
for our country, which you have just heard so eloquently 
expressed by Mr. Morton. 

" Receive in return. Monsieur le IMinistre, our thanks, both 
for yourself and the Americans for whom you have spoken. 
The history of our friendship is of long date. Before the 
exchange of these two monuments, one of wdiich is to remain 
here, and the other so shortly to be transported to your shores, 
tokens of friendship between the two great Republics were not 
wanting, either upon this side of the Atlantic or the other. If 
our streets and public squares have American names, with you 
wdiole cities bear French names, not, as happens too frequently, 
in order to perpetuate the souvenir of bloody triumphs of one 
people over another, but, on the contrary, as an evidence of 
our secular friendship. Our friendship is like the 'Liberty' 
created by the genius of M. Bartholdi — it enlightens the 



3i6 THE LIFE OF 

world, but does not menace it. You celebrated not long ago 

your centenary ; we are shortly to celebrate ours. May this 

ceremony of to-day serve as a bond of union between these 

two great jubilees. 

" Who would be able to say to-day which of the two nations 

manifested itself to the world by this declaration ? ' We hold 

« 
these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal ; 

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable 
rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness ; that to secure these rights, governments are insti- 
tuted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent 
of the governed.' 

" It was your ancestors, gentlemen, who in 1776 gave utter- 
ance to these words, so humane and yet so bold. Happier 
than ourselves, established in a new land, surrounded with 
fewer enemies, it has perhaps cost you less trouble to realize 
the promises contained in these words. The only tragedy that 
has marked your histoiy during a hundred years demonstrated, 
moreover, what a grand teacher liberty is in everything. 
Obliged to make and improvise war, you gave evidence of 
incomparable energy and resources. You conducted it upon 
a scale that surprised us. A single episode of this gigantic 
struggle — the campaign of Sherman — recalls, by its calcu- 
lated .temerity, the expedition of Hannibal. Ah ! you have 
shown, gentlemen, what you are capable of doing ; you can 
henceforth and forever return to works of peace. 

"Peace, liberty, justice, friendship between nations — that is 
the work that we shoidd, hand in hand, endeavor to accom- 
plish. 



I 



LEVI P. MORTON. 317 

" Why should there not be, Mr. Morton, associated with this 
fete^ a sentiment of personal regret, which you will allow me 
to express.^ Guests, respected, appreciated, and loved by 
Parisian society, are about to leave us. And yet, welcome to 
the new envoy of the great American Republic. Let us hope, 
however, that Paris will exercise on you, Mr. and Mrs. Mor- 
ton, its customary charm. It was said in antiquity, and is still 
said — you have heard it many times, M. de Lesseps — that 
whoever once tastes the water of the Nile wishes to drink it 
for the rest of his life. Paris flatters herself that she is capa- 
ble of the same seduction — that she can inspire the same nos- 
talgia. Mr. and Mrs. Morton, Parisian society will not, I am 
sure, lose you forever," 

Responses were also made by M. Boue, M. de Lesseps, antl 
Senator Lafayette. The neat impromptu by M. de Lesseps 
deserves a place here : 

"As President of the Franco-American Committee, which 
' has presented to the United States the Colossal Statue of Lib- 
erty, I thank Minister Morton and the American Committee 
for this beautiful g^t to France and the city of Paris. This 
exchange of tokens of friendship is a fresh bond uniting the 
two grand Republics, and I am happy to state the fact in the 
presence of the noble heirs of the glorious names of Lafayette 
and Rochambeau." 

During all this time, Mrs. Morton sat, with two or three of 
her daughters, on a seat near the front. After the speaking, 
she was approached first by M. Brisson, who assured her of his 
best wishes for her safe return to America, and then by a great 



3i8 THE LIFE OF 

number of the most eminent Frenchmen, who expressed them- 
selves likewise. She was always ready to re^^ly in neat and 
pointed phrases, expressing her regard for the French people 
and nation, and her gratitude for the great kindness that had 
been shown her. 

The other event is explained by the following letter : 

Paris, April 23, 1SS5. 
Tlic Honorable L. P. Morton, Envoy Extraordinary and Minis- 
ter Plenifotcntiary oj the United Htatcs in France. 

Dear Sir: We learn, with deep regret, that you are about to leave 
Paris. It is our wish, on the eve of jour departure, to publicly express 
to you our appreciation of the invaluable services you liave rendereil 
to Americans in France. 

During the four years that you have represented the United States in 
this capital, you have strengthened the bonds that unite the two Re- 
publics, and you have secured for our citizens in France advantages 
which they did not previously possess. Your home has been the cen- 
tre of a most generous hospitality; to every work of charity you have 
been a devoted friend and supporter; you have extended to every citi- 
zen of our country, however humble, assistance and protection when- 
ever needed, and in the long list of distinguished men who have filled 
the eminent position of American Minister in France, we feel there is 
not one who has been more faithful and devoted in maintaining na- 
tional interests. 

In recalling the honorable record of your services, we are united in a 
sentiment of cordial respect and gratitude for the past, and of earnest 
good wishes for the futvire. We beg, therefore, to invite you to a din- 
ner, at such a time as may be most convenient to you, which will give 
us an opportunity of bidding you God speed, and of thanking you in 
person for the many kindnesses and services af which we have been the 
recipients during your term of office. 



LEVI P. MORTON. 319 

We beg to express to Mrs. Morton, through you, our cordial tlianks 
for the most gracious welcome she has also extended to us, and our sin- 
cere appreciation of the qualities which have made her, in her sphere, 
what \'ou have been in vours. 

We are, dear sir. 

Very faithfully yours, etc. 

This letter was beatitifully engrossed on parchment, and 
signed by sixty American gentlemen in Paris. Mr. Morton 
replied the next day, and after expressing his pleasine at the 
invitation, and the pleasure of Mrs. Morton, he said : 

As the new American minister to France is expected to sail from 
New York on the 29th inst. , it will be most agreeable to me, as I doubt 
not that it will be to you, to fix a date subsequent to his arrival. I 
therefore beg to suggest May i4ih, when I shall be pleased to avail 
myself of your courteous invitation, and shall hope also to have the 
pleasure of presenting my successor, my late colleague in Congress 
and personal friend, the Hon. Robert M. McLane. 

The farewell banquet was held at the Hotel Continental, 
and was one of the most brilliant social events of the season. 
Not only Americans, but many of the most eminent French- 
men were present. jVIr. Morton's successor was also there, 
and the friendship shown to exist between the two was one of 
the most pleasant features of the evening. In all there were 
about two hundred gentlemen jDresent, of the most distin- 
guished Frenchmen and Americans, and others. 

The arrangements for the banquet were most complete. 
Every expression of taste and art was brought into requisi- 
tion to show the esteem in \vhich the honored guest of the 



320 THE LIFE OF 

evening was held. The halls were ornamented with plants, 
and the band of the Garde Republicaine^ under the leader- 
ship of M. Gustave Wettge, furnished the best and mosfartistic 
music for the occasion. The menu was printed in Old En- 
glish text, and announced the choicest that France might aflbrd. 

Mr. John Munroe was chairman of the committee of arrange- 
ments, and presided at the banquet table. He had Mr. Mor- 
ton and Mr. McLane on his right. 

" We have gathered together this evening," said Mr. Mun- 
roe, rising, "to do honor and to bid farewell to one who, dur- 
ing the past four years, has been a friend to all of us. The 
presence in our midst of so many distinguished members of 
the French Government, and others prominent in the spheres 
of art and science, is a brilliant testimony to the respect and 
atlection in which Mr. Morton is held by all. Many other 
representative men would have been with us, to add still fur- 
ther lustre to tlie gathering, had it been possible for them to do 
so ; and I shall, with your permission, read a few of the let- 
ters, expressing the high appreciation in which Mr. Morton is 
held by those to whose government he has been accredited." 

He then read letters from M. Jules Ferry, M. de Freycinet, 
M. Henri Brisson, General Pittie, and others. | 

The toasts of the evening, some of which had now already 
been given, were as follows : 

1. The President of the French Republic. Music: " The French 
National Air." 

2. The President of the United States. Music: " The American 
National Air." 

3. The Guest of the evening, the Hon. L. P. Morton. Remarks by 
Mr. John Munroe. 



LEVI P. MORTON. 321 

4. American Diplomacy. Remarks bj Mr. Edmund Kelly. Reply 
by Mr. Morton. Music. 

5. The Two Great Sister Republics. Remarks by M. Floquet. 
Music. 

6. The Hereditary Friendship of France and the United States. 
Remarks by the Hon. Robert M. McLane, Minister of the United 
States. 

7. The Development of Popular Education the True Basis of Na- 
tional Greatness. Remarks by M. Rene Goblet, Minis'ter of Public 
Instruction. Music. 

8. The Commercial Relations between Frunce and the United 
States. Remarks by Consul-General Walker. 

9. The Modern International Peacemaker — Arbitration. Remarks 
by General Keys, of the United States Army. Music. 

ID. Two glorious names always uppermost in the heart of every 
patriotic American — ^Washington and Lafayette. Remarks by the 
Marquis Edmund de Lafayette, and the Marquis de Rochambeau. 
Music. 

It only remains to give briefly a few sketches, taken almost 
at random, from the many good things that were said on that 
brilliant evening. 

Senator Lafayette, speaking of Mr. Morton, said : " During 
his mission in France, your worthy representative has shown 
himself to be the friend of oiu' country, and he has known 
how to become acquainted with, to appreciate and admire oin- 
most eminent public men. . . . As for myself, I can 
never forget the marks of affection which Mr. Morton and his 
fellow-countrymen have always shown for the memory ot 
Lafayette, the companion in arms and the friend of Washing- 
ton ; and we delight in the recollections of the old union 
between the two nations, and the glorious day of Yorktown, 
21 



322 • THE LIFE OF 

with which event the name of Rochaml^eau is also associ- 
ated." 

The Marquis de Rochambeau spoke as follows: " In less 
than four years Mr. and Mrs. Morton have won the approba- 
tion of everybody, and, I may say it without any fear of con- 
tradiction, none better than they have known how to keep 
alive the old friendship which unites France and Amei'ica." 

Said Mr. McLane : "I have accepted with great pleasure 
the invitation of your committee to unite with you in this ban- 
quet in honor of my predecessor. . . . Honest and effi- 
cient administration is consistent with party government, and, 
therefore, men of all parties can unite in rendering homage to 
faithful and capable public servants. It is in this spirit that 
we can all unite in cordial and generous courtesy to our guest, 
recognizing the fidelity and ability with which he has repre- 
sented our country in France." 

M. Floquet, President of the Chamber of Deputies, closed 
his remarks with the following: "Be pleased to convey to 
Mrs. Morton our respectful homage. Her exquisite qualities 
rendered her worthy to be at the head of that brilliant Ameri- 
can colony, which constitutes one of the most graceful orna- 
ments of our Parisian society. Her charms of manner and 
mind blended well with the courteous gravity of your temper 
and habits, and have made your house one of those in which 
hospitality was of the most amiable kind and eagerly sought 
after. Be sure that among us neither of you will be forgotten ; 
and, when you are far away, preserve a little remembrance of 
us, and accept this evening our sad and cordial, and, if I may 
be allowed to say it, our fraternal, farewell." 



LEVI P. MORTON. 323 

Mr. Edmund Kelly, in his speech, gave a rapid and faitlitul 
sketch of Mr. Morton's diplomatic career in France. In 
closing the narrative, he said : " And then, too, not a single 
American enterprise, worthy of consideration, has been 
started in France during the last four years, but owes him a 
debt of gratitude. I see in this room living witnesses to the 
cordiality and effectiveness of his cooperation. For these last 
four years have been full of American achievement. A young 
engineer, of New York, has revolutionized the silk trade by 
an invention which, in delicacy of treatment, has not been sur- 
passed by Edison, and, in fruitfulness of result, hardly equaled 
by Arkwright himself. Two of our fellow-citizens, during 
the hours they could spare from their already engrossing occu- 
pations, have out of their private means, added a couple of 
sub-marine cables to those that already united the shores of the 
two Republics. Another has built a veritable monument of 
gothic architecture in Paris, which will materially add to tiie 
beauty of what is already the most beautiful city in the worlil. 
Another of our countrymen (and this enterprise is, perhaps, 
of all the most stupendous in its presumptuousness, and the 
most amazing in its prosperity) has not onh dared to under- 
take, but has actually succeeded in the publication of a daiiv 
newspaper in this country of France, to which he does not be- 
long, and in the French language, ^vhich he hardly under- 
stands. It would be ungracious not to admit that the success 
of these men (especially in this last case) has been largely due 
to the intelligent assistance and welcome of the people among 
whom we live. Every one of them, however, has had his way 
made easy, and in some cases his success determined, by the 
puissant co(">peration of our late minister." 



324 - THE LIFE OF 

In response, among other excellent things, Mr. Morton 
spoke the following : 

" It has been my constant and earnest desire to discharge 
the duties of the position in a manner that would redound to 
the credit of the government and country I have had the honor 
to represent ; and tend to cement and perpetuate the mutual 
affection and respect, which took their birth when France came 
to our aid during our struggle for independence. If my eflbrts 
have met W'ith any measure of the success which your partial- 
ity awards to them, it is owing to the friendly consideration, in 
all official and personal relations, which I have received from 
the distinguished statesmen who preside over the destinies of 
our sister Republic, from all the officers of the government, 
and from the people of France, as well as from the encourage- 
ment and cordial support which I have received at your hands, 
representing as you do all the varieti elements of American 
life in Paris. The intelligent and valuable services which have 
been rendered by the secretaries of Legation, Messrs. Brulatour 
and Vignaud, deserve special recognition, and will long be 
remembered by me with gratitude and pleasure. In all my 
official and personal relations with the President of the Repub- 
lic, the distinguished gentlemen who have presided at the 
Quai d'Orsay, commencing with M. Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire, 
who was followed by that illustrious statesman and brilliant ' 
orator, Leon Gambetta, whose death was mourned by the 
friends of France throughout the woidd, and all the high func- 
tionaries of the government, I have found, not only the court- 
eous attention to which the representative of a great nation is 
everywhere entitled, but a cordial sympathy for our country, 
an enlightened admiration for its institutions, and an earnest 



LEVI P. MORTON. 325 

desire to contribute to a closer union between the two repub- 
lics. .......... 

"We are honored also by the presence of my most distin- 
guished successor, who has to-day assumed the duties of his 
ofHce. Mr. McLane's eminent services in high official stations 
— in Congress, as commissioner to China, as minister of the 
United States to Mexico, and as governor of the State of Mary- 
land — are an assurance that the duties of his new position will 
be discharged with conspicuous ability, and in a manner alike 
honorable to his country and himself. I could not ask more 
for my personal friend and late colleague in Congi'ess than the 
friendly reception accorded to me by the government and 
people of France, and the hearty support which I have received 
from my countrymen." 

The papers of Paris and London vied with each other in 
giving such accounts of this, and other banquets, as did honor 
to Mr. Morton. Speaking of the sentiments expressed on the 
occasions of the presentation of statue of Liberty and of the 
farewell banquet, the Paris Temps remarked : " They are so 
natural and unconventional, that they suggested other words 
than the common-place ones generally expressed on such oc- 
casions. In most of these utterances, there was a display of 
real feeling, a very rare thing in similar instances." 

Said the London Standard: " Such a tribute of sympathy 
and good-will to a diplomatic agent on his retirement, as took 
place to-night at the Hotel Continental, is without jDrecedent 
in the French capital." 

The London Times : " Mr. Morton, indeed, during his four 
years' residence in Paris, has shown great hospitality, and has 
realized the type of modern ambassadors, who succeed in in- 



326 THE LIFE OF 

spiring affection for their own nation by manifesting affection 
for the nation to which they are accredited. Admirably 
seconded by Mrs. Morton, he has given the Legation an emi- 
nently social character, his brilliant receptions being attended 
not only by the numerous members of the American colony, 
but by French guests, who have found it a neutral ground such 
as is now rarely offered by French salons. This signal testi- 
mony of gratitude, on the part of the Americans, was there- 
fore amply deserved, while it was equally just that Frenchmen 
should join in the expression of esteem inspired by Mr. Morion 
during his too brief stay. " 

The Morning News : "The honors paid to Mr. Morton 
yesterday were a fitting conclusion to perhaps the most suc- 
cessful reign ever enjoyed by an American Minister to France. 
It must not be supposed that the tribute offered to the depart- 
ing minister last night was the consequence of a precedent. 
It was, in fact, a novelty. . . . Mr. Morton will carry 
with him to his American home the grateful remembrance of 
his fellow-citizens in France., and no future honors will be con- 
sidered by them too lofty or too well-deserved. " 

In company with Mr. Brulatour, Mr. Morton presented him- 
self, on the 14th of May, to M. Gr^vy, the President of the 
Republic, at the Elys('e, to deliver his letters of recall. 

In reply to Mr. Morton's words of appreciation of all the 
courtesies that had been extended to him, ISI. Grovy said : 

" It is with lively regret that we witness your departure. 
We have always appreciated your high character and great 
courtesy. You have won the sympathy of all, and I only wish 
that the custom and tradition of the two countries permitted 
me to ask, as a favor, your retention in office. 



LEVI P. MORTON. 337 

"Mrs. Morton's departure will also be clecply regretted, as 
she has made herself universally popular by her perfect tact 
and amiability." 

Soon after these events, Mr. Morton and his taniily sailed 
for home. He himself may not have felt fully satisfied with 
his work in France — as a faithful servant never feels that he 
has done all that he might have done — but he certainly did 
not feel that he could not congratulate himself on his success ; 
nor could he have had any chidings of conscience on account 
of misspent time, or failure to do his duty. Nor was there a 
man in America, or in France, who knew anything about his 
career in the latter country, that could not heartily have said 
of his service, " Well done." 

His popularit}^ at home had not diminished, meanwhile. 
For no sooner was it there ascertained that there was to ])e a 
Democratic administration, and that ]Mr. Morton must return 
home, than his friends began to consider him as a candidate 
for nomination to the Senate of the United States. In Janu- 
ary, 1885, while he was yet in France, his name was brought 
before the Republican caucus ; and in spite of the fact that 
Mr. Evarts was also before the caucus, Mr. JMorton shov\'ed 
great strength, the vote in the caucus being as follows : Evarts, 
61 ; Morton, 28 ; and Depew, 3. 

Two years afterwards, Mr. ISIorton's name was before tlie 
legislature for the same office. The result of tlie lirst ballot 
was, Morton, 33; Hiscock, 11; Miller, 43 ; and Smith M. 
Weed (Democrat), 61. Mr. Morton then withdrew in favor 
of Mr. Hiscock, and on the second ballot Mr. Hiscock received 
the entire Republican vote, and was elected. 



Chapter VII. 



HOME AND CHARITIES. 

NO. 85 FIFTH AVENUE "FAIR LAWN " — " ELLER.SLIE " DOMESTIC 

CHARACTER AND TASTES FAITHFUL AND ACCOMPLISHED WIFE 

AND DAUGHTERS — A MAN OF BENEVOLENCE — " ONE-QUARTER 
OF THE CARGO OF THE CONSTELLATION" — DETERMINATION IF 
NOT ACCEPTED — $50,000 FOR RELIEF OF WORKINGMEN DURING 

ROCKAWAY BEACH IMPROVEMENT TROUBLES TESTIMONY OF 

GRATEFUL EMPLOYES — A GIFT TO DARTMOUTH COLLEGE — OLEO- 
MARGARINE LAWS — A RECORD WORTHY OF HONOR. 

Not the least brilliant and successful phase of Mr. Morton's 
life, has been his home-life. He has been one of the few rich 
men who have demonstrated that they deserve all their wealth 
by the use they make of it, as well as by their manner of 
obtaining it. The homes he has occupied have been true 
American homes, and not mansions for the display of wealth. 
He has bought, or built, tine houses, and furnished them as 
a man of taste and having a wife of taste and refinement, 
would naturally furnish them. 

A detailed account of his private buying and selling is not 
necessary. From what has been written, no one would accuse 
him of a wrong transaction in the matter of a house-lot. His 
more public transactions were too large, and presented tempta- 
tions and opportunities for underhanded dealing far too great, 
tor him to have paused to bring the curses of a poor man or a 
common dealer upon him ; and that his record in the smaller 
private matters is clean, is witnessed by the facts that it is 
clean in the other matters, and that there is no poor man or 



LEVI P. MORTON. 329 

widow who has ever had dealings with him, who does not 
crown him with blessings. 

Three large mansions have conserved tlie influences that 
Mr. Morton and his estimable wife have been able to gather 
under the sacred name of home. There are those with small 
means who have humbler cottages that inclose influences as 
pure and home-like, and as conducive to contentment and 
happiness ; but it requires, therefore, a higher art to take more 
than is absolutely necessary for such a place, and weave it into 
the sacred fabric of a home, so that there shall be nothing 
surperfluous. In these mansions, this art has been displayed 
in its greatest perfection. 

The first is a large, brown-stone house, on Fifth Avenue, 
New York. If it were standing alone, it would be considered 
magnificent in its outward appearance. But crowded among 
so many — and some of them much larger — monuments of 
architectural skill, it assumes modest proportions. 

There is a wide hall running from the street doors to the 
dining-room at the rear. On the right wall hangs a large 
portrait of President Garfield. On the left is a large painting, 
by Constant, of an Eastern dwelling. The door on the right 
leads into the parlors ; the door on the left, into the library. 
The stairway, also, leads up from the hall. The dining-room, 
at the end of the hall, is almost as wide as the house. The 
portraits that hang in the library, are those of Mr. Morton's 
father, the Rev. Daniel O. Morton ; his uncle, Levi Parsons ; 
Washington, Arthur, Lafayette, McMahon, Count de Roch- 
ambeau, and Gambetta. There is also a picture of the store 
of Mr. Esterbrook, in Concord, New Hampshire, where Mr. 
Morton went from Enfield to be a clerk. The last is a 



330 THE LIFE OF 

daguerreotype ; the rest are all works of masters. The 
arrangement of these pictures betrays the same taste as their 
selection. Mr. Morton is a lover of art, and this fact is seen 
in all in the room. The books are the best and the rarest. 

The '' cottage " at Newport, Rhode Island, has been referred 
to. It was purchased about 1S69 or 1870. It is of brick, 
painted a brown stone color. From the avenue, down to which 
the spacious grounds lead, " Fair Lawn " presents a cluster of 
gables and chimneys, so arranged as to give a most pleasing 
eflect. Within, the appointments are not unlike those of No. 
85 Fifth Avenue. But there are many houses on Bellevue 
Avenue more costly than this. 

For several years Mr. Morton and his family made "Fair 
Lawn " their summer residence. But salt atmosphere was not 
always conducive to their health, and it became necessary to 
find a place farther inland for summer. For this purpose, a 
large tract of land was bought, just south of Rhinebeck, a 
village about ninety miles up the Hudson River, and three miles 
back from the river, on the west side. 

Rhinebeck is one of the staid old towns of the Hudson 
valley. It is situated among the hills ; and the quaint old 
houses, with those of more modern type, some of costly con- 
struction, together with the stately trees that arch the streets or 
half hide the cottages from view, make it very picturesque. 

The site selected for the new house, which was to be known 
as " Ellerslie," was perhaps three miles south of the village. It 
overlooked the Hudson for miles up and down, and presented 
a view of the valleys and hills just across the river, and the 
Catskills a little to the north. The house was finished during 
the summer of 1S88, and was constructed of brown-stone and 



M 



LEVI P. MORTON. 331 

tinted wood, the former reaching only to the second story. 
The floors are of polished oak. The dining-room is trimmed 
with black polished walnut. The oaken stairways lead from 
the halls to the second and third stories. Some of the rooms 
are decorated with rare and tinted wood, and there are mantels 
of Italian and Parian marble and onyx. The extensive grounds 
are inclosed by a stone wall, and the driveways are macadam- 
ized. There are nooks and groves, and lawns and fountains. 
The ample stables in the rear proclaim that the owner is a 
lover of horses. 

There is nothing about all this that indicates an attempt at 
display, or, on the other hand, a close or selfish avoidance of 
expenditure. Everything witnesses to liberality and a love of 
the beautiful. The expenditure has all been cheerfully applied 
to some purpose, and every dollar adds its effect to the beauty 
or usefulness of the surroundings. Wherever there was a 
thing necessary for any part of the premises, it was purchased 
without any hesitancy ; and there is evidence everywhere that 
the purchaser knew just what was wanted before the purchase 
was made. 

The description of these houses has been given because they 
are all exponents of the domestic character and tastes of those 
by whom and for whom they exist. A cultivated family ; a 
man of broad and liberal mind, and heart, and training, a 
wife of rare accomplishments and refinement, and daughters 
well-trained and of excellent and refined tastes. For there 
are five daughers, the eldest of whom was born in 1875. 

These children have been brought up under most excellent 
care and instruction. The best of home teachers — govern- 
esses — have been employed, and nothing has been spared 



332 THE LIFE OF 

which will tend to place them among the noble women of the 
country — ornaments to, and useful members of, society. 

But there are acts yet to be recorded that indicate, better than 
any direct words of praise, the character of Mr. Morton, and 
the kind of moral influences that pervade his home. His 
benevolence is a trait of his character, and is not manifested 
alone in great deeds that might honor him before men, nor 
alone in private deeds toward his own family or friends in a 
way that, after all, woviid be selfish. j 

In 1880 occurred the great famine in Ireland. There were 
thousands of sufferers, sick and dying of starvation, and little 
relief afforded by England. Our Congress placed at the dis- 
posal of any benevolent-hearted Americans who might be 
willing to contribute to the relief of the sufferers, the large 
ship Constellation^ for the transportation of what might be 
donated. Some time went on, and no one seemed to realize 
the importance of contributing. After some weeks the follow- 
ing letter was printed in the New York Herald: 

You are authorized to announce that a gentleman known to you, 
who declines to have his name made public, offers to pay for one- 
quarter of the cargo of the Constellation, if other parties will make up 
the balance. 

It was not long until this notice served as a spur to others, 
and the proprietor of the Herald and Mr. W. R. Grace, each 
contributed a fourth, and the remaining fourth was made up 
by a number of other gentlemen. So the Constellation sailed 
with her full cargo, and carried relief to the famishing of 
Ireland. 

The author of the letter and the contributor of the first 



LEVI P. MORTON. 333 

quarter was Mr. Morton. It was his intention, if the oiler 
was not accepted, to furnish the cargo himself. He was not 
one of those men who offer to do great' things, in case some 
other impossible or wholly improbable thing occurs. 

During the same year occurred what was known as the 
Rockaway Beach Improvement troubles. An enormous 
hotel was begun at Rockaway Beach, and five hundred work- 
men were employed. The great scheme failed, and the work- 
men were not only thrown out of employment, but their wages, 
which had been kept back, they now found impossible to 
obtain. They were poor, and they needed bread for their 
wives and children. Certificates of indebtedness were issued 
to them, but nobody would pay cash for the worthless paper, 
or give food for it. 

It was at this moment that Mr. Morton came forward, and 
joining with the firm of Drexel, Morgan & Company, the two 
firms contributed $50,000 each, paying the full amount of the 
certificates, and refusing to accept any discount. 

Nor did Mr. Morton wait until late in life, when he had 
amassed his fortune, before he manifested the charitable and 
benevolent characteristics. When the firm of Morton & Grin- 
nell fiiiled in 1861, the senior partner assumed the whole in- 
debtedness, refusing to allow Mr. Grinnell to bear any part of 
it. And it has already been related how, after going into busi- 
ness again and becoming able to pay the full amount, he did 
so by checks to which his own name alone was signed. 

Sometime since, a gentleman strolling along Bellevue Avenue, 
in Newport, came to " Fair Lawn," and seeing the gate open, 
and the gardener trimming some shrubbery near at hand, he 
went in. He was invited by the gardener to the latter's cozy 



334 THE LIFE OF 

cottage that stood not for from the large "cottage " known as 
" Fair Lawn." 

" Does Mr. Morton come here in summer now.^" asked the 
stranger. 

" No. He has not been here for two or three years." 

" Would you be glad to see him ? " 

" Indeed, I would." 

"Was he kind?" 

" He was. He was not too big to come out now and then, 
and talk friendly to me. He treated all the servants on the 
place kindly." 

" Why, only think ! " spoke up the gardener's wife enthu- 
siastically, " when he and Mrs. Morton came to Newport, 
two or three years ago, just before they started on a trip to 
Eurojoe, they stopped here a whole week. And they came 
over here to this little house every morning and ate with us. 
They would sit down to our table, just like any common folks ; 
and they would enjoy being with us — but not near as much as 
we did to have them come ! Why, sometimes Mrs. Morton 
would come over and talk awhile before meal time, and some- 
times she would take hold and help me ; or she would show 
me how to do this or that. Oh, she's a lady that is a lady, I 
tell you ! " 

There could be given no better proof of the thorough Amer- 
icanism of Mr. and Mrs. Morton than this. They had no aris- 
tocratic rules that kept them aloof from others of real worth. 
Believing that the merit of character alone should entitle one 
to recognition and association, they dared show it in their 
actions. 

Some years ago, Mr. Morton presented a park to the city of i 



LEVI P. MORTON. 335 

Newport, which, though now unhnpioved, will one day be 
one of the attractions of the city. It is situated in the angle 
between Brenton Street and Coggeshall Avenue. 

In 18S5, he bought a house and lot at Hanover, New Hamp- 
shire, for which he paid the sum of $7,500. He then pre- 
sented the property to Dartmouth College. The gift was to 
enable the college to erect an art gallery and museum. 

It can thus be seen that Levi P. Morton's sympathies are 
with the people, poor or ricli, whose cause is just. He makes 
no class distinctions ; though, no doubt, from his own early 
experience of poverty, at Shoreham, Springfield, and Win- 
chendon, and the inconvenience, denial of opportunities, and 
even sufiering, to his father's family, consequent upon that 
jDOverty, his inclinations are toward the defense of the poor. 
He has always been quick to relieve suffering of any kind. 
He has been as quick to appreciate a cause of justice, and place 
himself upon that side. In Congress, he was always found 
upon the side where he believed the interests of the people to 
be. Out of Congress, he watched with interest the legislative 
acts of the country and his own state, and was always ready to 
do what he could to induce legislation in behalf or the inter- 
ests of the people. He watched with jealous and anxious eye 
those interests especially on which the welfare and happiness 
of all classes were based — business interests. 

A gentleman and a Christian, a business man and a states- 
man, — in the broad, true sense of each of those terms, — Mr. 
Morton is preeminently a representative of the highest type of 
American men. His history and character, domestic, social, 
business, and public, are such as to challfenge the patriotic 
pride of every true citizen of our Republic. 



PART in. 



Part Third. 

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY — ITS RECORD 
AND ITS PRESENT POSITION. 



Chapter I. 



ITS GLORIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS. 

REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE POLITICAL BREAK-UP FOR- 
MATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ELECTION OF 1S56 — FREE- 
DOM OR SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES — LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS 
DEBATE— ELECTION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN— SECESSION — WAR FOR 
THE UNION — UNPATRIOTIC ATTITUDE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY 

— THE REPUBLICAN PARTY THE DEFENDER OF NATIONALITY 

EMANCIPATION ENFRANCHISEMENT OF THE COLORED RACE. 

In 1852, Franklin Pierce, ot" New Hampshire, was elected 
President by the Democratic party, receiving the electoral 
votes of twenty-seven states. Four States only, Massachusetts 
and Vermont in the North, and Kentucky and Tennessee in the 
South, cast their votes for General Scott, the Whig candidate. 

The Democratic platform, upon which Mr. Pierce was 
chosen, was framed in entire subserviency to the interests and 
the wishes of the Southern slave-holders. The Democratic 
Convention resolved that " all efforts of the Abolitionists or 



340 THE RECORD OF | 

others to induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery, 
or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to 
lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences." The 
compromise measures by which the extension of slavery into 
free territory had been restricted v.'ere approved ; but so also 
was the fugitive slave law by which Congress had enacted that 
a man or woman or child, possibly free-born, might be con- 
signed to life-long slavery by the judgment of a United States 
commissioner, without having a trial by jury to decide the 
rightfulness of a claim to freedom. The Democratic platform 
further declared that " the Democratic party will resist all 
attempts at renewing, in Congress or out of it, the agitation of 
the slavery question, under whatever shape or color the at- 
tempts may be made." The Democratic Convention adopted 
this pro-slavery platform with entire unanimity and unre- 
strained enthusiasm. The Whig Convention of 1853 was 
divided on the slavery question. 

After long discussion and against strenuous protest, the 
Whigs agreed upon a platform no less in the interest of slavery 
than that of the Democrats. 

The resolutions declared that the compromise measures, in- 
cluding the fugitive slave law " are received and acquiesced in] 
by the Whig party of the United States as a settlement in prin- 
ciple and in substance of the dangerous and exciting questions 
which they embrace." 

The public sentiment of 1852 was strongly opposed to any 
further agitation of the slavery question, and the North acqui- 
esced in unrighteous and cruel laws, violative of the primal 
rights of man, for the sake of peace and commercial interests. 



i 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 341 

And Pierce proved the stronger candidate, because the Dem- 
ocratic party was united in upholding the settlement of the 
slavery controversy that had been so solemnly made, while 
among the Northern Whigs were multitudes who could not, 
in good conscience, give their consent to the fugitive-slave law. 
Divided and disheartened, the Whigs were beaten in many 
states where they had been in the ascendant, but the Demo- 
cratic majority in the popular vote was. not so great as in the 
vote in the electoral colleges. 

Pierce received a total of 1,601 ,274 votes, Scott, 1,386,580, 
and Hale, the candidate of the Free Soilers, 155,825. The 
absolute majority for Pierce was but 58,896. 

In his first message, sent to Congress in December, 1853, 
President Pierce declared that when " the grave shall have 
closed over all who are now endeavoring to meet the obliga- 
tions of duty, the year 1850 will be recurred to as a period of 
anxious apprehension." He declared of the Compromise of 
1850 that "it had given renewed vigor to our institutions, and 
restored a sense of repose and security to the public mind," 
and pledged that this " repose" should suffer no shock if he 
" had the power to avert it." 

That very winter Stephen A. Douglas, Democratic Senator 
from Illinois, reported to the Senate a bill to organize Kansas 
and Nebraska as territories, and in one section of the bill the 
Missouri Compromise of 1820 was declared to be inoperative 
and void. By the famous Missouri Compromise a vast terri- 
tory westward and northwestward of Missouri and Iowa, 
stretching from the north line of Arkansas to the British bor- 
der, twelve and a half degrees of latitude, and westward to 



342 THE RECORD OF 

Utah and Oregon, was solemnly dedicated to freedom. The 
proposition of Senator Douglas now was that the solemn guar- 
anty of the men of 1820 — South and North joining in the com- 
pact that the territory north of 36° 30' should be free soil — 
should be repealed, and the way left open for the extension of 
the slave system of the South over all that magnificent domain. 
Douglas was an ambitious candidate for the Presidency, and 
sought by this act of subserviency to Southern demands to 
secure the solid support of the South. In his heart he did not 
desire the spread of slavery, and he doubtless believed as 
well as hoped that slavery would gain the form, and freedom 
the substance, in the conflict for the control of this imperial 
domain, which his proposition invited. He trusted that settlers 
from the free states would outnumber those from slave states, 
and that the institutions of the new territories would be moulded 
by the forces of freedom. 

Meanwhile he expected to be rewarded with the presidential 
office for his service to the South in leading in an eflbrt to 
repeal the covenant by which the South, in an earlier and 
more honorable day, had excluded her peculiar institution from 
that then unpeopled and almost unknown region. 

The excitement throughout the North that this proposition 
to repeal the Compromise called forth was unequaled hitherto 
in our political history. The North was ablaze with indigna- 
tion, and protest was thundered in the ears of Congress. The 
Democratic party in Congress followed the lead of Douglas ; 
with some honorable exceptions, the Southern Whigs united 
with the Southern Democrats, and on the 30th of May, 1854, 
the Compromise was repealed, and the door was opened 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 3^3 

for the advance of slavery over the plains of the Northwest. 
Pierce, the Democratic President who had pledged himself not 
to permit the violation of the compacts which had secured 
political repose, perfidiously signed the bill repealing the first 
of the two compromises which were the bases of repose. 

The repeal of the Missouri Compromise was quickly fol- 
lowed by the breaking up of old political organizations. The 
Whig party perished in an hour. The Southern Whigs were 
left to drift, some at once and some more slowly, into the 
ranks of the Pro-Slavery Democracy. The great mass of the 
Northern Whigs, with tens of thousands of freedom-loving 
Northern Democrats, coalesced as Republicans, animated by 
the purpose of opposing the aggressions of the slave power 
and preserving forever free the soil not yet devoted to the slave 
system. Such was the origin of the Republican party, in the 
year 1854. Before the end of that year a large majority of the 
people of the Northern States were united as Republicans 
under the banner on which was inscribed " Free Soil, Free 
Speech, and Free Men " ; and a majority of the people of the 
South was ranged under the flag of the Democratic party as 
the upholders of slavery, not only in the states where it already 
existed, but as an institution to be extended as far as circum- 
stances would permit it to be carried. From 1854 ^^ i860 a 
continuous struggle was waged in Congress, in the Supreme 
Court, at the polls in every Northern state, on the plains of 
Kansas and Nebraska, over the question whether slavery 
should be permitted or prohibited in the territories. The new 
Republican party took the field in the presidential election of 
1856 with General John C. Fremont, of California, as its 



344 



THE RECORD OF 



standard bearer. Douglas failed oi his reward. Neither 
President Pierce nor Senator Douglas were considered avail- 
able by the Southern Democrats, who, under the rule of the 
Democratic National conventions that two-thirds of all the 
delegates must concur in a nomination, always dominated in 
the conventions of the party. Both Pierce and Douglas strug- 
gled desperately for the Democratic nomination for President 
in 1856, but both were set aside in favor of James Buchanan, 
of Pennsylvania. Buchanan had never given a vote offensive 
to the South on the slavery question, but his absence from the 
country as minister to England had saved him from the oblo- 
quy which attached to Pierce and Douglas, the responsible 
authors of the repeal of the Compromise. 

In the election every Southern state voted for Buchanan, 
except Maryland which voted for Fillmore the candidate of the 
ephemeral "American" organization. 

Buchanan carried in the North his own state of Pennsylva- 
nia, and the states of New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois, and Cali- 
fornia. 

Eleven Northern States voted for Fremont. 

The popular vote was : for Buchanan, 1,838,169 ; Fremont, 
1,341,264; Fillmore, 874,534. 

Although defeated, the moral victory was with the Republi- 
cans. They had in their first national struggle obtained the 
votes of a large majority of the people of the free states. 

From the beginning to the end of President Buchanan's term 
the struggle between freedom and slavery for the control of 
the territories continued. There was bloodshed in Kansas, 
hot and angry debates in Congress. Threats to dissolve the 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 345 

Union were frequently made by representatives of the South. 

Dui'ing Mr. Buchanan's administration there took place on 
the hustings in Illinois the famous jpint debate between Abra- 
ham Lincoln, the champion of the Republicans, and Senator 
Douglas, the advocate of the doctrine of non-interference by 
Congress with the question of slavery in the territories. In 
his opening speech Mr. Lincoln uttered these memorable 
words: "I believe this government cannot endure perma- 
nently half slave, half free. I do not expect the Union to be 
dissolved ; I do not expect the house to fall ; but I do expect it 
will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all 
the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the 
further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall 
rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, 
or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike 
lawful in all the states, old as well as new, north as well as 
south." 

Lincoln advocated a positive prohibition of slavery in the 
territories by the general government. Douglas argued in 
favor of submitting the question of slavery to the people of the 
territory itself. The South was not satisfied with the position 
of Mr. Douglas. The contention of the Southern Democrats 
was that where the Constitution went slavery might go, and 
that no power existed either in Congress or the people of any 
territory by which slavery could be excluded. Buchanan 
threw all the influence of the administration against Douglas 
in his contest for the Senate with Lincoln (the debate occurred 
in a senatorial canvass), and gave countenance to the ultra de- 
mands of the slave power. 



346 THE RECORD OF 

The unwillingness of Douglas to take the position that the 
people of a territory had no right to banish slavery from thei^' 
borders, secured him a reelection to the Senate from the 
people of Illinois, but it fatally damaged his prospects for the 
presidency by alienating the Southern democracy which 
would be satisfied with nothing short of absolute subserviency 
to the interests of slavery extension. In iS6o Mr. Lincoln was 
nominated for Pi"esident by the Republican Convention on a 
platform of opposition to slavery extension. The Democratic 
Convention split in twain after a prolonged and bitter contro- 
versy at Charleston, S. C. The Southern wing of the party 
nominated John. C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, and the 
Northern wing Stephen A. Douglas. The Republicans 
marched to an easy and certain trivmiph. Lincoln carried 
every free state with the exception of New Jersey which 
divided her electoral votes, Lincoln obtaining four. Breckin- 
ridge carried every slave state save four — Virginia, Kentucky, 
and Maryland voting for John Bell, Conservative Unionist ; 
and Missouri for Douglas. 

The Southern leaders who were bent on secession from the 
Union had wrecked the fortunes of the Democratic party, and 
the subserviency of that party to the slave power while not 
satisfying the demands of that arrogant political class, had 
forfeited forever the confidence of the masses of the people in 
the Northen States. At no presidential election since 1856 
has the Democratic party carried more than four of the old free 
states, and its pluralities in the four states it has twice carried 
have in the aggregate been less than the Republican plurality 
during all that period in either of several Northern States. 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 347 

" The long political sti'uggle was over. A more serious one 
was about to begin. For the first time in the history of the 
government, the South was defeated in a presidential election 
where an issue affecting the slavery question was involved. 
There had been grave conflicts before, sometimes followed by 
compromise, oftener by victory for the South. But the elec- 
tion of 1S60 was the culmination of a contest which was in- 
herent in the structure of the government ; which was fore- 
shadowed by the Louisiana question of 181 2; which became 
active and angry over the admission of Missouri ; which was 
revived by the annexation of Texas, and still further inflamed 
by the Mexican War ; which was partially allayed by the com- 
promises of 1S50; which was precipitated for final settlement 
by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, by the consequent 
struggle for mastery, in Kansas, and by the aggressive inter- 
vention of the Supreme Court in the case of Dred Scott. 
These are the events which led, often slowly, but always with 
directness, to the political revolution of i86o. The contest 
was inevitable, and the men whose influence developed and 
encouraged it may charitably be regardad as the blind agents 
of fate. But if personal lesponsibility for prematurely forcing 
the conflict belongs to any body of men, it attaches to those 
who, in 1854, broke down the adjustments of 1820 and of 1850. 
If the compromises of those years could not be maintained, 
the North believed that all compromise was impossible ; and 
they prepared for the struggle which this fact foreshadowed. 
They had come to believe that the house divided against itself 
could not stand ; that the Republic half slave, half free, could 
not endure. They accepted as their leader the man who pro- 



348 THE RECORD OF 

claimed these truths. The peaceful revolution was complete 
when Abraham Lincoln was chosen President of the United 
States." 

The election of Mr. Lincoln was made the pretext for the 
secession of eleven of the Democratic slave states from the 
Union. Then ensued the war for the Union. Upon this un- 
happy period the people do not care to dwell except when oh 
proper occasion they recall the valor and the devotion of the 
soldiers of the Republic, and remember to discharge the debt 
of honor the Nation owes to its patriotic defenders. In 
examining or discussing the record of political parties since 
the old-fashioned Democracy went to pieces on the rock of 
slavery in 1854. it is, however, only historic justice that the 
position of the Democratic and Republican parties during the 
war should be presented and contrasted. 

President Lincoln, as a war measure, issued an Emancipation 
Proclamation on the first day of January, 1863, declaring free 
all slaves within certain designated territory. This great act, 
one of the most illustrious in all history, was condemned by 
the leading Democrats of the North as unconstitutional. 

The next year, 1864, the Democratic presidential convention 
adopted as the first resolution of its platform the following : 

"That this convention does explicitly declare., as the sense 
of the American people, that after four years of faihire to 
restore the Union by the experi?nent of war., during which, 
under the pretense of a military necessity of war power 
higher than the Constitution, the Constitution itself has been 
disregarded in every part, and public liberty and private right 
alike trodden down, and the material prosperity of the coun- 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 349 

try essentially impaired, justice, humanity, liberty, and the 
public welfare demand that imtnediate efforts be made for a 
cessatioiz of hostilities^ with a view to the ultimate convention 
of the states, or other peaceable means to the end that at the ear- 
liest practicable moment peace may be restored on the basis of 
the Federal Union of the states." 

In strong contrast to this weak, cowardly, and unpatriotic 
declaration, were the first and second resolutions of the Na- 
tional Union Republican Convention which nominated Mr. 
Lincoln for reelection the same year : 

" That it is the highest duty of every American citizen to 
maintain against all their enemies the integrity of the Union 
and the paramount authority of the Constitution and laws of 
the United States ; and that, laying aside all differences of 
political opinions, we pledge ourselves as Union men, ani- 
mated by a common sentiment, and aiming at a common ob- 
ject, to do everything in our power to aid the Government in 
quelling by force of arms the rebellion now raging against its 
authority and in bringing to the punishment due to their 
crimes the rebels and traitors arrayed against it. That we ap- 
prove the determination of the Government of the United 
States not to compromise with rebels or to offer them any 
terms of peace, except such as may be based upon an uncon- 
ditional surrender of their hostility, and a return to their just 
allegiance to the Constitution and laws of the United States ; 
and that we call upon the Government to maintain this posi- 
tion and to prosecute the war with the utmost possible vigor 
to the complete suppression of the rebellion, in full reliance 
upon the self-sacrificing patriotism, the heroic valor, and the 



350 THE RECORD OF 

undying devotion of the American people to the country and 
its free institutions." 

The verdict of the loyal people of the country was over- 
whelmingly in favor of the administration of Air. Lincoln, and 
the Democratic platform of 1864 fell under a weight of pop- 
ular odium. Any young American may be proud to range 
himself as a member of the great historic party, whose record 
during the war is of courage and fidelity to the Union and to 
liberty, and which sustained Abraham Lincoln in his masterly 
struggle for the integrity of the government. No young 
American can join with pride a political parly whose repre- 
sentatives were so recreant to high principle and patriotic duty 
as those of the Democratic party in the hour of the Nation's 
severest trial. 

Just before the close of the war the thirteenth amendment 
of the Constitution of the United States, abolishing slavery 
throughout the Nation, was proposed by Congress for the rati- 
fication of the states. Januarv 31, 1S65, the vote was taken in 
the House of Representatives. All the Republicans voted in 
favor of the amendment. Just eleven Democrats were pre- 
pared, in that hoin of approaching triumph for the L'nion cause, 
to vote in favor of abolishing slaverv. Fifty-six Democrats, more 
than five times the number voting for freedom, voted no on the 
proposition to submit to the states the abolition amendment. 
The amendment had previously passed the Senate with six 
votes, all Democratic, against it. 

After the war the Republican party reconstructed the Union 
upon the basis of general amnesty and manhood suffrage. The 
Republican statesmen, after long deliberation, decided, and 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 351 

decided wisely as history will recognize, that it was not prac- 
ticable or just to restore civil government in the seceding states 
without giving to the colored race exact civil and political 
equality with the white race. The Democratic party offered 
the most bitter opposition to every measure designed to secure 
equality before the law to the colored race. Not a single 
Democratic vote was given in either house of Congress in 
favor of the submission to the states of the fifteenth amend- 
ment of the Constitution, and that amendment received scarcely 
a Democratic vote in the state legislatures throughout the Union. 
Later on we shall consider the present relations of the 
colored race to our politics in connection with the subject of 
free and fair elections in certain states ; but we turn now to 
i the subject which is uppermost in the public mind. 




Chapter II. 



THE TARIFF. 

REVIEW OF THE TARIFF CONTROVERSY — THE qUESTION STATED BY 

MR. BLAINE INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF TARIFF REDUCTIONS 

TARIFF OF 1857 PROTECTION AND FREE TRADE AS A POLITICAL 

ISSUE IN THE UNITED STATES TARIFF OF 1883 — PRESIDENT 

CLEVELAND'S MESSAGE THE RAW MATERIALS qUESTION — THE 

DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION. 

By common consent the presidential election of iS88 in- 
volves a decision of the issue of whether the duties levied by 
the general government upon imports from foreign countries 
shall be imposed for the pui-pose of fostering American indus- 
tries and protecting them against the competition in the mar- 
kets of the United States of the products of foreign countries 
w^here the cost of production is less than in America, A suc- 
cinct presentment of the tariff issue cannot be so easily and 
effectively made as by copious extracts from the discussion of 
it by Mr. Blaine, recognized by his political opponents as one 
of the ablest defenders of the protective system. Accordingly 
such quotation will be made : 

" The slavery c[uestion was not the only one which de- 
veloped into a chronic controversy between certain elements 
of Northern opinion and certain elements of Southern opinion. . 
A review of the sectional struggle would be incomplete if it 
did not embrace a narrative of those differences on the tariff 
which at times led to serious disturbance, and, on one memor- 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 353 

able occasion, to an actual threat of resistance to the authority 
of the government. The division upon the tariff' was never 
so accurately defined by geographical lines as was the division 
upon slavery ; but the aggressive elements on each side of both 
questions finally coalesced in the same states, North and South. 
Massachusetts and South Carolina marched in the van-guard 
of both controversies ; and the states which respectively 
followed on the tariff issue were, in large part, the same 
which followed on the slavery question, on both sides of Mason 
and Dixon's line. 

"Anti-slavery zeal and a tariff for protection went hand in 
hand in New England, while pro-slavery principles became 
nearly identical with free-trade in the cotton states. If the rule 
had its exception, it was in localities where the strong pres- 
sure of special interest was operating, as in the case of the 
sugar-planter of Louisiana, who was willing to concede gener- 
ous protection to the cotton spinner of Lowell if he could 
thereby secure an equally strong protection, in his own field 
of enterprise against the pressing competition of the island of 
Cuba. The general rule, after years of experimental legisla- 
tion, resolved itself into protection in the one section and free 
trade in the other. And this was not an unnatural division. 
Zeal against slavery was necessarily accompanied by an appre- 
ciation of the dignity of free labor; and free labor was more 
generously remunerated under the stimulus of protective laws. 
The same consideratioHS produced a directly opposite conclu- 
sion in the South, where those interested in slave labor could 
act afford to build up a class of free laborers with high wages 
and independent opinions. 
23 



354 THE RECORD OF ■ 

" In the beginning of the controversy it was expected that 
the manufacture of cotton would gi'ow up side by side with its 
production, and that thus the community which produced the 
fibre would share in the profit of the fabric. During this 
period the representatives from the cotton states favored high 
duties ; but as time wore on, and it became evident that slave- 
labor was not adapted to the factory, and that it was undesir- 
able if not impossible to introduce free white labor with re- 
munerative wages side by side with unpaid slave labor, the 
leading minds of the South turned against the manufacturing 
interest. 

" The tariff" question has in fact been more frequently debated 
than any other issue since the foundation of the Federal 
Government. The present generation is more familiar with j 
questions relating to slavery, to war, to reconstruction ; but as 
these disappear by permanent adjustment, the tariff' returns, and 
is eagerly seized upon by both sides of the controversy. More 
than any other issue, it represents the enduring and persistent 
line of division between the two parties which in a generic j 
sense have always existed in the United States : the party of 
strict construction and the party of liberal construction ; the 
party of states rights and the party of national supremacy ; the 
party of stinted revenue and restricted expenditure and tlie 
party of generous income with its wise application to public 
improvement. 

"Public attention may be temporarrly engrossed by some 
exigent subject of controversy, but the tariff" alone steadily and 
presistently recurs for agitation, and for wJiat is called settle- 
ment. Thus far in our history, settlement has only been the 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 355 

basis of new agitation, and each successive agitation leads 
again to new settlement." 

Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury under Gen- 
eral Washington's administration, submitted his celebrated 
report on manufactures to the House of Representatives in 
answer to its request of December, 1790. This report sus- 
tained and elaborated in a masterly manner never since sur- 
passed, the argument in favor of a protective tariff'. 

"Mr. Hamilton sustained the plan of encouraging home 
manufactures by protective duties, even to the point in some 
instances of making those 'duties equivalent to prohibition.' 
He did not contemplate a prohibitive duty as the means of 
encouraging a manufacture not already domesticated, but de- 
clared it ' only fit to be employed when a manufacture has 
made sucli a progress, and is in so many hands, as to insure a 
due competition and an adequate supply on reasonable terms.' 
This argument did not seem to follow the beaten path which 
leads to the protection of ' infant manufactures,' but rather 
aimed to secure the home market for the strong and well de- 
veloped enterprises." 

From the organization of the government in 17891 to the 
time when the Republican party obtained control of national 
affairs, the tariff' policy of Congress was vacillating and un- 
settled. Several times by unwise reductions of the tariff", 
always under the lead or the compulsion of the Democratic 
party, severe injury was infficted upon the prosperity of the 
people. In 1857, ""* ^he closing session of Mr. Pierce's ad- 
ninistration, Congress enacted what has since been known as 
:he tariff' of 1S57. 



356 THE RECORD OF 

'■'By this law the duties were placed lower than they had 
been at any time since the War of iSi3. The act was well 
received by the people, and was, indeed, concurred in by a 
considerable proportion of the Republican party." 

It is instructive to note that the seductive appeals to New 
England men made by the free traders in iS^^y on the subject 
of free raw materials had far greater influence upon those to 
whom they were addressed than similar appeals to-day have 
upon the puplic opinion of New England. A majority of 
New England representatives voted for the low tariff' of 1S57. 

"• It was an extraordinary political combination that brought 
the Senators from Massachusetts and the Senators from South 
Carolina, the Representatives of New England, and the Rep- 
resentatives from the cotton states to support the same tariff" 
bill — a combination which had not before occurred since the 
administration of Monroe. The singular coalition portended 
one of two results : either an entire and permanent acquiesc- 
ence in the rule of free-trade, or an entire abrogation of that 
system, and the revival with renewed strength of the doctrine 
of protection. Which it should be was determined by the un- 
folding of events not then foreseen, and the force of which it 
recjuired years to measure. 

" The one excuse given for urging the passage of the act of 
1857 ^^^ ^^^''^t under the tariff' of 1846 the revenues had be- 
come excessive and the income of the government must be 
reduced. But it was soon found to be a most expensive 
mode of reaching that end. The first and most important re- 
sult flowing from the new act was a large increase of impor- 
tations, and a very heavy drain in consequence upon the re 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 357 

served specie of the country, to pay the balance which the 
reduced shipments of agricultural products failed to meet. In 
the autumn of 1S57, l^^lf '^ year after the passage of the tarift' 
act, a disastrous financial panic swept over the country, pros- 
trating forthe time all departments of business in about the same 
degree. The agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing 
interests were alike and equally involved. The distress for a 
time was severe and wide-spread. The stagnation which en- 
sued was discouraging and long continued, making the years 
from 1857 to 1S60 extremely dull and dispiriting in business 
circles throughout the Union. The country was not exhausted 
and depleted as it was after the panic of 1S37, but the business 
conuTiunity had no courage, energy was paralyzed, and new 
enterprises were at a stand still. It soon became evident that 
this conditions of affairs would carry the tarift question once 
more into the political arena as an active issue between par- 
ties." ..." The convention which nominated Mr. Lin- 
coln met when the feeling against free trade was growing, and 
in many states already deep-rooted. A majority of those who 
composed that convention had inherited their political creed 
from the Whig party, and were profourid believers in the pro- 
tective teachings of Mr. Clay. But a strong minority came 
from the radical school of Democrats, and, in joining the Re- 
publican party on the anti-slavery issue, had retained their 
ancient creed on financial and industrial questions. Care was 
for that reason necessary in the introduction of new issues and 
the imposition of new tests of party fellowship. The conven- 
tion therefore avoided the use of the word ' protection,' and was 
contented with the moderate declaration that ' sound policy 



358 THE RECORD OF 

requires such an adjustment of imposts as will encourage tl.c 
development of the industrial interests of the whole countr\ .' 
A more emphatic declaration might have provoked resistance 
from a minority of the convention, and the friends of protec- | 
tion acted wisely in accepting what was offered with una- ! 
nimity, rather than continue the struggle for a stronger creed 
which would have been morally weakened by party division. 
They saw also that the mere form of expression was not im- 
portant so long as the convention was unanimous on what i 
theologians term the ' substance of doctrine.' It was notnl 
that the vast crowd which attended the convention cheered the 
tariff resolution as lustily as that which opposed the spread of 
slavery into free territory. From that hour the Republican 
party gravitated steadily and rapidly into the position of 
avowed advocacy of the doctrine of protection." 

Mr. Blaine in closing the tariff chapter contained in Vol. I 
of Twenty Tears of Congress uses the following language : 

"In the foregoing summary of legislation upon the tariff, 
the terms free trade and protection are used in their ordi- 
nary acceptation in this country ; — not as accurately defining 
the difference in revenue theories, but as indicating the rival 
policies which have so long divided political parties. Strictly 
speaking, there has never been a proposition by any party in 
tlie United States for the adoption of free trade. To be en- 
tirely free, trade must encounter no obstruction in the way ot 
tax, either upon export or import. In that sense no nation 
has ever enjoyed free trade. As contradistinguished from the 
theory of protection, England has realized freedom of trade by 
taxing only that class of imports which meet no competition 



f 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 359 



in home production, thus excluding all pretense of favor or 
advantage to any of her domestic industries. England came to 
this policy after having clogged and embarrassed trade for a 
long period by the most unreasonable and tyrannical restrictions 
ruthlessly enforced, without regard to the interests or even the 
rights of others. She had more than four hundred acts of 
Parliament regulating the tax on imports, under the old 
designations of ' tonnage and poundage,' adjusted, as the phrase 
indicates, to heavy and light commodities. Beyond these, she 
had a cumbersome system of law^s regulating and in many 
cases prohibiting the exportation of articles which might teach 
to other nations the skill by which she had herself so marvel- 
ously prospered. 

" When by long experiment and persistent efibrt England 
had carried her fabrics to perfection ; when by the large accu- 
mulation of wealth and the force of reserved capital she could 
command facilities which poorer nations could not rival ; when 
by the talent of her inventors, developed under the stimulus 
of large leeward, she had surpassed all other countries in the 
magnitude and effectiveness of her machinery, she proclaimed 
free trade, and persuasively urged it upon all lands with which 
she had commercial intercourse. Maintaining the most arbi- 
trary and most complicated system of protection so long as her 
statesmen considered that policy advantageous, she resorted to 
free-trade, only when she felt able to invade domestic markets 
of other countries and undei-sell the fabrics produced by strug- 
gling artisans who were sustained by weaker capital and by less 
advanced skill. So long as there was danger that her own 
marts might be invaded, and the products of her looms and 



360 THE RECORD OF 

forges undersold at home, she rigidly exckided the competini 
fabric and held her own market for her own wares. 

" The essential question which has grown up between polit- 
ical parties in the United States respecting our foreign trade is 
whether a duty should be laid upon any import for the direct 
object of protecting and encouraging the manufacture of the 
same article at home. The party opposed to this theory does 
not advocate the admission of the article free, but insists upon 
such rate of duty as will produce the largest revenue and at 
the same time afford what is termed ' incidental protection.' 
The advocates of actual free trade according to the policy of 
England — taxing only those articles which are not produced 
at home — are few in number, and are principally confined to 
doct)-inaires. The instincts of the masses of both parties are 
against them. But the nominal free trader finds it very difficult 
to unite the largest revenue from any article with ' incidental 
protection ' to the competing product at home. If the duty be 
so arranged as to produce the greatest amount of revenue, it 
must be placed at that point where the foreign article is able 
to undersell the domestic article and thus command the market 
to the exclusion of competition. This result goes beyond what 
the so-called American free trader intends in practice, but not 
beyond what he implies in theory. 

'' The American protectionist does not seek to evade the legit- 
imate results of his theoiy. He starts with the proposition 
that whatever is manufactured at home gives work and wages 
to our own people, and that if the duty is even put so high as 
to prohibit the import of the foreign article, the competition of 
home producers will, according the doctrine of Mr. Hamilton, 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 361 

rapidly reduce the price to the consumer. He gives numerous 
illustrations of articles which, under the influence of home 
competition, have fallen in price below the point at which th^ 
foreign article was furnished when there was no protection. 
The free trader replies that the fall in price has been still 
greater in the foreign market, and the protectionist rejoins that 
the reduction was made to compete with the American 
product, and that the former price would probably have been 
maintained so long as the importer had the monopoly of our 
market. Thus our protective tariff' reduced the price in both 
countries. This has notably been the result with respect to 
steel rails, the production of which in America has reached a 
magnitude surpassing that of England. Meanwhile rails have 
largely fallen in price to the consumer. The home manufact- 
ure has disbursed countless millions of money among Ameri- 
can laborers, and has added largely to our industrial independ- 
ence and to the wealth of the country. While many fabrics 
have fallen to as low a price in the United States as elsewhere, 
it is not to be denied that articles of clothing and household 
use, metals and machinery, are, on an average, higher than in 
Europe. The difference is due in large degree to the wages 
paid to labor, and thus the question of reducing the tariff' cra- 
ries with it the very serious problem of a reduction in the pay 
of the artisan and the operative. This involves so many grave 
considerations that no party Is prepared to advocate it openly. 
Free traders do not, and apparently dare not, face the plain 
truth — which is that the lowest priced fabric means the lowest 
priced labor. 

"On this point protectionists are more frank than their 



362 THE RECORD OF 

opponents ; they realize that it constitutes indeed the most 
impregnable defense of their school. Free traders have at 
times attempted to deny the truth of the statement; but every 
impartial investigation thus far has conclusively pro\ed that 
labor is better paid, and the average condition of the laboring 
man more comfortable in the United States than in any Euro- 
pean country. 

" An adjustment of the protective duty to the point which 
represents the average difference between wages of labor in 
Europe and in America, will, in the judgment of protectionists, 
alw^ays prove impracticable. The difference cannot be regu- 
lated by a scale of averages, because it is constantly subject to 
arbitrary changes. If the duty be adjusted on that basis for 
any given date, a reduction of wages w^ould at once be en- 
forced abroad, and the American manufacturer would in con- 
sequence be driven to the desperate choice of surrendering the 
home market or reducing the pay of workmen. The theory 
of protection is not answered ; nor can its realization be at- 
tained by any such device. Protection in the perfection of its 
design, as described by Mr. Hamilton, does not invite compe- 
tition from abroad, but is based on the controlling principle 
that competition at home will always prevent monopoly on the 
part of the capitalist, assure good wages to the laborer, and 
defend the consumer against the evils of extortion. 

"The assailants of protection apparently overlook the fact 
that excessive production is due, both in England and in 
America, to causes beyond the operation of duties either high 
or low. No cause is more potent than the prodigious capacity 
of machinery set in motion by the agency of steam. It is as- 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 363 

serted by an intelligent economist that, if performed by hand, the 
work (lone by machinery in Great Britain would require 700- 
000,000 of men, — a far larger number of adults than inhabit the 
globe. It is not strange that, with this vast enginery, the 
power to produce has a constant tendency to outrun the power 
to consume. Protectionists find in this a conclusive argument 
against surrendering the domestic market of the United States 
to the control of the British capitalists, whose power of produc- 
tion has no apparent limit. When the harmonious adjustment 
of international trade shall ultimately be established by * the 
parliament of man ' in ' the federation of the world,' the power 
of production and the power of consumption will properly 
balance each other ; but in traversing the long road and endur- 
ing the painful process by which that end shall be reached, the 
protectionist claims that his theory of revenue preserves the 
newer nations from being devoured by the older, and others to 
human labor a shield against the exactions of capital." • 

The tariff question has been slowly returning to its old 
prominence in political discussion ever since the war closed in 
1865. There have been several complete or partial i-evisions 
of the tariff' since the war. We are not under the war tariff' 
now. In 1883 a tariff" commission appointed by President 
Arthur, in accordance with an act of Congress, made an ex- 
haustive inquiry into the relation of the industries of the 
country to the tariff', and in 1S83, following the report of the 
tariff' commission, a general revision of the tariff' was made 
by which the duties upon nearly all the imports were consider- 
ably reduced. The wisdom of this reduction was disputed by 
the strong protectionists in Congress, and the result has justified 



364 THE RECORD OF 

their opposition. Excessive importations liave affected un- 
favorably certain industries and the revenue of the government 
has correspondingly increased. Mr. Blaine well knowing that 
the tariff' would inevitably come before the country dvu-ing the 
administration of the government from 1SS5 to 1S89, when the 
nominee of the Republican party for President in 1S84, both 
by his letter of acceptance and afterwards in public addresses, 
discussed the tariff' question in the frankest manner, presenting 
honestly and clearly the doctrine of protection to American in- 
dustry, in which he and his party believed. Grover Cleveland, 
on the other hand, in his letter of acceptance made no reference 
whatever to the tariff', and he implied by the words, " It should 
be remembered that the office of President is essentially execu- 
tive in its nature," that he should have no personal policy on 
the subject. 

Had he avowed in the campaign the opinions he has since 
declared, had it been understood by all that the leading feature 
of his administration would be the enforcement, by the influ- 
ence and patronage of the presidential office, upon the Demo- 
cratic party of the policy of a tariff for revenue only, with 
merely incidental protection, and that in a small degree — Mr. 
Cleveland would have been overwhelmingly defeated. From 
the beginning of the present administration efforts have been 
making with the approval and under the lead of the President 
to bring about a general reduction of the tariff". Unmindful of 
the rebuke administered by the people in the congressional 
elections of 1886, when the Democratic majority in the House 
of Representatives was so nearly wiped out, and Morrison and 
other free traders defeated, Mr. Cleveland in his message to 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 365 

Congress in December, 1SS7, startled the Nation and attracted 
the attention of Europe by a vigorous attack upon the protect- 
ive system. Ambitious for a reelection to the presidency, 
Mr. Cleveland deliberately determined to force upon the Dem- 
ocratic party its ancient creed upon the tariff. It was, indeed, 
impossible to avoid meeting this issue. Mr. Blaine, in the 
campaign for Governor Beaver's election in Pennsylvania in 
1SS6, pointed out that as it would be some years before the 
government would have the option of making further pay- 
ments upon the public debt, there would soon be a dangerous 
accumulation of surplus money in the national treasury, that 
reduction of revenue would be absolutely necessary, and that 
we should be brought face to face with the sharpest tariff' crisis 
in our history. Another general reduction of the tariff upon 
protected articles, if such reduction were only moderate, would 
doubtless have the effect of so stimulating importations as to 
still further increase the surplus. President Cleveland in his 
message thus speaks of the surplus and its dangers: "The 
public treasury, which should only exist as a conduit, convey- 
ing the people's tribute to its legitimate objects of expenditure, 
becomes a hoarding place for money needlessly withdrawn 
from trade and the people's use, thus crippling our national 
energies, suspending our country's development, preventing 
investment in productive enterprises, threatening financial dis- 
turbance, and inviting schemes of public plunder." 

The President anticipated that by the 30th of June, 1888, 
the accumulation of surplus in the Treasury would reach 
$140,000,000. This surplus would not have been so alarm- 
ingly great had Mr. Cleveland and the Democratic party in 



366 THE RECORD OF 

Congress been willing to consent that certain just and judicious 
expenditures should have been made — for pensions for needy 
soldiers of the Republic ; for public buildings in many towns 
where they are needed ; for coast fortifications, and for the edu- 
cation of the children in the Southern States. Condemning 
all proposals for the expenditure of the surplus the President 
proceeded to discuss the means by which the public revenues 
could be reduced. 

The internal revenue taxes levied upon the comsumption of 
tobacco and spirituous and malt liquors, he considered to be 
not burdensome to the people. The President then proceeded 
to recommend that reduction in revenue be accomplished bv 
reducing the duties levied upon imported articles, including 
especially those coming into direct competition with the 
products of our own labor. We quote from the message : 

" But our present tariff' laws — the vicious, inequitable, and 
illogical source of unnecessary taxation — ought to be at once 
revised and amended. These laws, as their primary and plain 
effect, raise the price to consumers of all articles imported and 
subject to duty, by precisely the sum paid for such duties. 

" Thus the amount of the duty measures the tax paid by those 
who purchase for use these imported articles. Alany of these 
things, however, are raised or manufactured in our own coun- 
try, and the duties now levied upon foreign goods and 
products are called protection to these home manufactures, 
because they render it possible for those of our people who 
are manufacturers, to make these taxed articles, and sell them 
for a price equal to that demanded for the imported goods that 
have_^paid customs duty. So it happens that while compara- 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 367 

tively a few use the imported articles, millions of our people, 
who never use and never saw any of these foreign products, 
purchase and use things of the same kind made in this coun- 
try, and pay therefore nearly or quite the same enhanced price 
which the duty adds to the imported articles. Those who buy 
imports pay the duty charged thereon into the public Treasury, 
but the great majority of our citizens who bu}- domestic ar- 
ticles of the same class, pay a sum at least approximately equal 
to this duty to the home manufacturer." 

The message contains many such paragraphs as that quoted, 
the intention evidently being to represent the protective system 
in an odious light, and convince the people that it is a burden. 
Mr. Cleveland indeed disclaims being a free trader, but his 
message is filled from beginning to end with the stock argu- 
ments of the free traders, the fallacy of which the common 
sense of the people easily detects. The gross blunder into 
which Mr. Cleveland foils when he says that the price of an 
article of domestic production is enhanced by precisely the 
same amount as the duty levied upon the same article when 
imported, exposes him to the ridicule of all intelligent persons. 

Mr. Cleveland holds up before the protected industries the 
threat that if they do not now consent to a reduction of pro- 
tective duties they will in the end fare worse. His language of 
warning is : " Opportunity for safe, careful, and deliberate re- 
form is now oftered, and none of us should be unmindful of a 
time when an aroused and irritated people, heedless of those 
who have resisted timely and reasonable relief, may insist upon 
a radical and sweeping rectification of their wrongs." 

Mr. Cleveland especially recommended the " radical reduc- 



368 THE RECORD OF 

tionof the duties imposed upon raw material used in manufact- 
ures, or its free importation." Especially he suggested the 
removal of the duty upon wool. 

The only "aroused and irritated people" heard from since 
the message are the people of the wool manufacturing state of 
Rhode Island, and the people of the wool growing state of 
Oregon, condemning by Republican majorities the tariff pro- 
posals of the President, 

The position of the Republicans on the raw material ques- 
tion is well stated in a speech by Congressman McKinley, of 
Ohio, in the House of Representatives, April 30, 1S84 : 

"Free raw material has nothing to commend it to legisla- 
tive favor which is not common to every other American 
product. The same necessity for protection, within reasona- 
ble limits, applies to what are commonly called raw materials 
as to the finished or more advanced manufactures. There is 
no such thing as raw^ materials distinguished from other prod- 
ucts of labor. Labor enters into all productions, the common- 
est as well as the highest forms. The ore costs something to 
mine it; the coal, to take it from the ground; the stone, to 
quarry it ; much labor enters into the production of wool ; 
leather costs something to tan ; and to the extent that labor 
enters into their preparation, what are usually termed raw mate- 
rials should have ratable protection with the completed 
product. Pig-iron is the raw material for bar-iron, and yet 
no one has been heard to advocate free pig-iron. Cloth is the 
raw material for the tailor, the finest steel is the crude material 
of the watchmaker, and so on interminably. There can be 
no just line drawn, and no reason exists for such a discrimina- 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 369 

tion. When the country is ready for free trade let us have it 
in all things without exception or restriction." 

Considering that the wool growing states have much more 
political power in the Umon than the wool manufacturing 
states, the proposal to abolish all protection on wool while re- 
taining protection, although insufficient, on cloth, is a most 
extraordinary one. Free wool means free cloth, and either or 
both mean the prostration of the American people. 

The claim of the Democratic party is that the agricultural 
sections of the country are oppressed by the tariff', and that 
the American farmer can rely upon a foreign market for his 
food products. This claim is answered by Mr. McKinley in 
the speech already quoted from : 

" It has always seemed to me that it was infinitely better 
that the farmer should have a market at home, a market at his 
very door, than to be compelled to seek a market in distant 
countries and among distant populations. As long as there is 
a demand at home it is a self-evident proposition that it is bet- 
ter than to seek consumers abroad, and that the home demand 
is safer, more reliable, and more profitable than any foreign 
market can possibly be. American buyers are the best in the 
world." He did not tell the committee what is the fact, that 
ninety per cent, of the food products of the United States is 
consumed at home, and that only about ten per cent, has to 
find a market abroad. 

It is not competition with Europe only which tariff reduc- 
tion invites, but in the near future with India and China. A 
prominent American in a public speech in the year 18S5 de- 
clared : 

u 
4 



370 THE RECORD OF 

" India and China are learning more than the lessons of war 
from Europe. They are learning the uses of machinery ; both 
have coal and iron ; both can produce wool and cotton, and 
India grows wheat. China has just now contracted with an 
American firm to work its coal mines — rich, but undeveloped. 
India already has ten thousand miles of railway, with cotton 
factories and iron mills. India with 350,000,000 and China 
with 400,000,000 of population, with their workers often 
living on a shilling a day or less, and with their cheap labor, [ 
will become not only competitors of England, but all other 
nations. It would be poor statesmanship if, by a blind adher- 
ence to a phantom policy, American labor should ever, for 
any reason, be brought into competition with that of India and 
China. Foreign markets may afford temporary relief for com- 
mercial depression and low wages, but they cannot settle the 
principle upon which wealth may be better distributed and ;; 
wages kept above the cost of living. It will not do to depend 
upon any external agency. The disease is within ; the fault I 
grows out of the existing industrial system." 

The Republican protectionists maintain these propositions : 

1. Diversity in national industry is essential to the develop- 
ment of a high civilization. 

2. Local centres, which manufactures widely spread build 
up, are essential to the prosperity and the happiness of the 
people. 

3. The power of association is developed among men by 
diversity of industry and local centres, and this power is what i 
gives to man command over the forces of nature. 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 371 

4. Domestic manufactures cheaioen prices. " Dear bought 
and for fetched," is an old and true maxim. 

5. The home market is the best market. Under the pre- 
sent tariff we do not control entirely our home market, we 
ought to obtain control of that before thinking of the conquest 
of foreign markets. 

6. The reduction of the tariff' means a reduction of wages 
of American workmen greater than any possible increase in 
the purchasing power of their wages ; and a fall in prices in 
this country resulting from tariff' and wage reduction, means 
the ruin of the debtor class of the country. 

7. The tariff' should be revised by those who understand 
and believe in the protective system. 




Chapter III. 

THE MILLS BILL, AND THE SURPLUS AND 
WHISKEY TAX QUESTIONS. 

ASCENDANCY OF THE FREE TRADE DEMOCRATS — THE MILLS BILL — 
ITS PASSAGE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES — THE WOOL 
QUESTION — THREATENED PROSTRATION OF INDUSTRIES — UN- 
WISE POLICY OF THE COTTON INTEREST — MINNESOTA AND THE 
TARIFF — THE MILLS BILL NOT A MEASURE FOR THE REDUCTION 
OF THE SURPLUS :— SUGAR TARIFF — TRUSTS — THE REPUBLICAN 
PLAN FOR REDUCING THE SURPLUS — THE WHISKEY TAX. 

From the day of Grover Cleveland's election, the influence 
in the Democratic party of Mr. Randall and other Democratic 
protectionists has been waning, and the ascendancy of Mr. 
Carlisle, Mr. Morrison, and other free traders has been grov^^- 
ing. Speaker Carlisle organized the Ways and Means Com- 
mittee of the first Congress in Mr. Cleveland's administration 
in the interest of free trade, and Mr. Morrison, the chairman, 
pushed to a vote a bill making a horizontal reduction of tw^enty 
per centum in most of the tariff^ schedules. The Con- 
gressional elections of i8S6 showed some reaction against the 
Democratic party, and Mr. Morrison himself was defeated for 
reelection on the tariff' issue. But the Ways and Means Com- 
mittee of the second Congress of this administration which 
met in December, 1887, was organized by Mr. Carlisle, re- 
elected speaker, in the same interest, and Roger Q_. Mills, of 
Texas, a radical free trader, was made chairman. The abso- 



I THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 373 

lute control of the committee was given to the cotton planting 
interest. The committee proceeded in the preparation of a 
tariff' bill in the most arbitrary and unprecedented manner. 
Mr. McKinley, in presenting the minority report of the 
committee to the House, says : 

I "If any consultations were held the minority was excluded. 
Thus originating, after three months of the session had gone, 
it was submitted to the committee. Since, there has been no 
consideration of it. Every effort upon the part of the minority 
to obtain from the majority the facts and information upon 
which they constructed the bill proved unavailing. 

" The industries of the country, located in every section of the 
Union, representing vast interests closely related to the pros- 
perity of the country, touching practically every home and fire- 
side in the land, and which were to be affected by the bill, 

I were denied a hearing." 

The majority of the committee reported a bill reducing the 
duties upon nearly all classes of manufactures, and placing 
upon the free list wool, salt, lumber, and certain other prod- 
I ucts of the country, commonly called by Free Traders " raw 
materials." The gi^eatest tariff debate in our history has been 
had in the House upon this bill. Some amendments were 
made by the Democrats increasing the duties fixed by the bill 
in cases where Democratic influences were brought to bear in 
favor of protected industries located in states whose vote in 
the presidential election was doubtful. Finally, on July 3i, 
188S, the Mills Tarifl' Bill passed the House liy a majority of 
thirteen votes. Only two Representatives, elected as Republi- 



374 THE RECORD OF 

cans, voted for the bill — Mr. Fitch, of New York, who has 
already entered the Democratic party, and the Honorable 
Knute Nelson, of Minnesota. 

Four Democi-ats only voted against the bill, but Samuel J. 
Randall would have voted against it had he not been prevented 
by illness from being present in the House. The corner- 
stone of the bill is free wool. The opponents of the protect- 
ive system, despairing of successful direct attack upon the pro- 
tective system as a w^hole, have undertaken to turn the flank of 
the tariff' by assailing the protection long afforded to sheep 
husbandry. The wool growers, although numbering more 
than one million voters, are not as a class possessed of the 
wealth or influence of manufacturers, and are mainly located 
in Republican states. The design of the Democrats is to 
secure by the offer of free wool, the support of the manufact- 
uring states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode 
Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, and having thus 
planted the seeds of discord between the East and the West, 
to afterwards, with the aid of the West, accomplish the 
destruction of the protective system. Indeed, the free-listing 
of w^ool involves the abandonment of the principle of protec- 
tion. 

Since Mr. Cleveland and his party have chosen to wage the 
battle on wool, let us examine somewhat the subject of the 
wool tariff'. 

I. The present tariff' divides wool into three classes : cloth- 
ing wools, combing wools, and carpet wools. Upon clothing 
and combing wools a duty is levied ; if the value at the place 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 375 

whence exported to the United States shall be 30 cents or less 
per pound, of 10 cents per pound ; if such value shall exceed 30 
cents per pound, the duty is 13 cents per pound. Upon car- 
pet wools is levied a duty of 3 1-2 or 5 cents per pound, accord- 
ing to the value. The duties on all classes of wool were con- 
siderably reduced in 1SS3, when the tariff' was last revised, 
greatly to the dissatisfaction of the wool growers, who have 
ever since striven to secure a restoration of the former rates of 
duty. A large reduction in the number of sheep and the wool 
clip has resulted from the reduction in the wool tariff', showing 
how vain is the hope that with wool on the free list wool 
growing could sui-vive in the United States. The present 
tariff' imposes a specific duty upon woolen manufactures of 
from ro to 35 cents per pound, and in addition thereto an ad 
valorem duty of either 35 or 40 per centum, var^'ing with the 
kind and value of the goods. The duties upon woolen manu- 
factures were slightly reduced b}^ the revision of 1S83. 
Increased importation of woolens has resulted. The importa- 
tions of wool in 1SS2 were 63,016,769 pounds; in 18S7, 114,- 
404,174 pounds. The duty collected in 1882 was $3,854,- 
653.18; that in 1887, $5,899,816.63. 

2. The Mills Bill abolishes all specific duties (the only 
duties that cannot be evaded by under-valuations) on woolens 
and fixes a duty of forty per cent, ad valorem. This is on 
most classes and on the largest quantity an increase of five per 
cent, upon the present ad valorem duty, which is in most cases 
thirty-five per cent. When the specific and ad valorem duties 
upon wool and woolens were established by the tariff' of 1S67, 
after full consultation and asrreement between the wool growers 



376 THE RECORD OF i 

and the manufacturers, and again when these duties were 
readjusted in 1883, it was upon the distinctly avowed plan that 
the specific duties on woolens were intended as compensatory 
merely to the manufacturer for the duty levied on foreign 
wools, and the specific rates were nicely adjusted to this end, 
while the ad valorem duty of thirty-five per cent, (in a few cases 
forty per cent.) was intended as favoring or strictly protective 
to the manufacturer. So that the Mills Bill by increasing the 
ad valorem duty from thirty-five to forty per cent., professes to 
give an additional favor to the manufacturer, the duties on 
wool and specific duties on cloth being abolished together. It 
is openly claimed by the organs of the free-wool manufacturers 
that the Mills Bill is in their favor. 

3. It is claimed by the Democrats and by the free-wool 
New England manufacturers that the effect of free wool will 
be to cheapen woolens to the consumer, to maintain wages of 
workers in woolen mills while increasing their purchasing 
power, and that no harm will result to the American wool 
grower. 

4. It is claimed by the tariff' reducers that trusts or combi- 
nations of manufacturers are formed for the purpose of extort- 
ing from the people monopoly prices, and that these trusts are 
protected in their extortion because so largely given a monopoly 
of the home market b}^ the tariff, that the only way to get fair 
prices is to admit foreign competition more freely. It is hard 
to see, if this claim be true, how prices are to be reduced to 
consumers of woolens, for the claim is that the protection of 
manufacturers of woolens has been fully preserved, and even 
increased by the Mills Bill. Whether the price of wool fell or : 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 377 

not, the manufacturers could still take advantage of the tariff 
of forty per cent, and plunder the consumers by combination. 
However, the w^ool growers are distinctly and loudly told by 
, the Democrats and free-wool manufacturers that the price of 
i wool will not fall, that the protective duties have already 
lowered the price of wool, and that by permitting the free im- 
, portation of foreign wools of the finest grade needed to mix 
with American wools, manufacturing will be so stimulated as 
to create a better and more remunerative market for American 
wool. If this claim is true, the fact, in connection with the 
forty per cent, duty, will certainly prevent the cost of pro- 
duction of all woolens, except, possibly, a few classes of the 
finest and highest-priced goods worn by the rich, from being 
lessened. 
! So the Mills Bill, according to the theory of its friends, will 
' not give to the wage-earners and the farmers the promised 
boon of cheaper clothing. 

5. The real effect of free-listing wool upon the wool 
growers, will be to destroy as if by magic the business of wool 

i growing in the United States. Under the present reduced 
; tariff, the number of our sheep fell off' from 50,620,626 in 18S4, 
I to 44,759,344 in 1887, with a corresponding reduction in the 
j wool clip from 308,000,000 pounds in 1884, to 265,000,000 in 

1887, a shrinkage of 43,000,000 pounds, while importations 

increased. 

6. The first effect of free wool upon the price of wool will 
be to reduce it considerably in price but not to the level of 
present European prices, for increased impoitations into this 
country will somewhat raise the price of wool in European 



378 THE RECORD OF 

markets. The increase of price of wool In Europe by slightly 
raising the cost of European manufacture will assist the Amer- 
ican manufacturer in maintaining pi'lces. There is good reason 
to believe that free wool manufacturers believe their profits 
will be increased. 

The secondary effect of free wool upon the price of wool 
will be to place American manufacturers at the mercy of 
European combinations controlling the Australian and wSouth 
American wool clip, and to Increase the price in a very few 
years to a figure above that paid at present. As soon as the 
American Congress abandons the wool-growing interest, which 
should be cherished as the apple of our eye, European policy 
grasping for our market will be devoted to cornering against 
us the wool grown under the flags of our rivals, and compelling 
us to import our wool in the form of cloth, thus giving the 
profit of the fabric to Europe. The money that woolen man- 
ufacturers in the United States make, because of free wool, they 
must make quickly, for the foreign monopolist will avenge the 
wrongs of the American wool grower. We already produce 
the greater part of the clothing wool consumed by our people, 
and with adequate protection to wool and woolens can easily 
produce all that is now or ever can be consumed ; and our 
American wools are as durable as any in the world and among 
the finest. 

7. Free wool will soon be followed by a sharp reduction of 
the duty upon foreign woolens. The Western farmers sacri- 
ficed in the matter of their wool upon the altar of selfishness, 
and experiencing no reduction In the price of woolens, will 
swiftly unite with the deadly foes of American manufactures, 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 379 

the Democratic cotton planters of the South, and strike a fatal 
blow at the woolen industry of New England and the East, 
and the striking of this blow would not be long delayed. Mr. 
Mills, in his report to the House, says of his bill : 

" The bill herewith reported to the House is not offered as 
a perfect bill. Many articles are left subject to duty which 
might well be transferred to the free list. Many articles are 
left subject to rates of duty which might well be lessened." 

The country has fair warning from our Bourbon masters 
that the Mills Bill is only the entering wedge of free trade. 
The object of the Southern tariff reducers in touching the 
tariff is to obtain for the South cheaper clothing and supplies. 
They do not expect the free listing of wool to reduce the price 
of cloth, but they do expect to strip the manufacturer of his 
political defenses, so that he can shortly be immolated on the 
altar of sacrifice he has helped to build. 

8. The final result of free wool will be, unless a political 
revolution not so easily accomplished takes place, that wool 
growing and wool manufacturing will become lost arts in the 
United States. 

9. If the Mills Bill contained no other changes than those 
in the wool and woolen duties, a few woolen manufacturers 
might, perhaps, rapidly amass fortunes, and their operatives 
might for a very few years maintain their present wages, 
although all attempts to increase wages or to shorten hours, 
would be defeated in advance ; but the bill aims deadly blows 
at flax and hemp, earthenware, glass, plate-glass, metal, 
steel, steel rail, and other industries. Hundreds of now flour- 



380 THE RECORD OF • | 

ishi ng industries would be undermined, and an atmosphere of 
gloom and despondency would spread over the land. Wages 
would be generally reduced, and in the " sorrowful degrada- 
tion of labor would be planted the seeds of public danger." 
A general fall in prices is the end sought by the tariff' reduc- 
ers ; if their end was realized, debts would not shrink with 
the price of property, and the mortgaged farms and home- 
steads of the Nation would be sold under the hammer of the 
sheriff' to the money-holders of America and Europe. 

And as the prostration of business would be general, the 
woolen industries would share in the general depression, and 
free-wool manufacturers would drink with the rest the waters 
of affliction. 

10. To New England the consequences of her folly if she 
listens to the siren song of the tempter would be sad indeed. 
In the constellation of the Union these " once jubilant stars of 
the morning would be silent and dim." Our Bourbon masters 
of the South, skilled in the cunning of the politician, tireless 
in the pursuit of the ends they seek, are now seeking with fair 
sounding words and beguiling measures to separate the East- 
ern Republicans from the Western Republicans in sympathy 
and in interest. It will be an evil hour for labor in the North 
when it consents to accept either political economy, politics, 
or social or industrial ideas from the Bourbon Democrats of 
Texas, Arkansas, or Mississippi. 

It will bear reiteration that the Nation is now witnessing a 
renewal of the old fight of the cotton planter in alliance with 
the foreign importing interest to impose by successive steps 
the policy of free trade upon the Republic. The logic of 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 381 

the situation is plain. Ninety per cent, and more of all the 
products of the agriculture of the United States finds a mar- 
ket at home; less than 10 per cent, is exported; but of 
our cotton crop almost two-thirds is exported, so that the 
cotton planter to-day, as of old, is tempted to say that in the 
markets of Europe his cotton is king. If Speaker Carlisle 
is to be believed, the cotton planter holds the home market, 
present or prospective, in small esteem. This is the whole 
secret of the movement for free trade in the United States. 
If it were not for the cotton interest, the advocacy of taritl' 
reduction would be confined to a few theorists having small 
acquaintance with the real facts, and whose influence would 
count for nothing. 

The true policy for the South is to develop her mines of iron 
and coal and other natural resources, to foster sheep raising, to 
build towns, educate her children, protect the colored race in 
their rights, and accept with enthusiasm the principles of 
Republicanism. 

The Democratic partv, on the tariff", as on questions of 
human rights, is the representative of Southern sectionalism 
and of a reactionary policy unfavorable to the moral and mate- 
rial well being of the continent. 

II. The only real Republican vote in the House for the 
Mills Bill was that of Knute Nelson, of Minnesota. Mr. Nel- 
son is a Norwegian by birth and a sterling representative of 
the Scandinavian settlers of the Northwest. The Scandinavi- 
ans, conspicuous ever for their intelligence and loyalty to 
human freedom, constitute very largely the RejDublican party 



2,82 THE RECORD OF 

of Minnesota. Faithful to established connections, loving lib- 
erty and education, they are Republicans by conviction. 

Mr. Nelson himself, although differing somev.'hat from his 
party associates on the tariff, indignantly spurns the suggestion 
that he could go over to the Democratic party because of a 
difference of opinion on an economic issue. He believes that 
the farmers of his state are unfavorably affected by high duties. 

He, and such as he, deserve high praise for recognizing that 
above all questions of tariff or finance are the supreme issues 
of liberty, education, and progress. It is natural that the idea 
should suggest itself to the mind of a citizen of Minnesota, 
because that State has been largely dependent upon the hard- 
wheat crop, which commands a ready sale in England, and is 
less susceptible to the competition of Indian or Russian wheat, 
because the best in the world. But fuller consideration of the 
question will incline Minnesota strongly to the side of the 
protective system. 

The price of even Minnesota wheat would be lowered in 
European markets, did not the home market absorb so large a 
proportion of the crop. And the European market for Ameri- 
can wheat will take less rather than more in the future. The 
true market for the Minnesota and Dakota of the future is at 
their very doors. Montana, not a wheat region, is destined to 
a mining and manufacturing future, and will* call for wheat. 
In Mr. Nelson's own district the new-found wealth of iron 
ore, the best in the world for steel, will bring home to the 
people a realization of the benefits of a diversified industry. 
The increasing butter product of Minnesota has no market 
except in the United States. Southwestern Minnesota is the 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 3S3 

natural home of the sheep, whose hoof is shod with gold. 
Even in the production of sugar, Minnesota has a future. And, 
besides all this, her interests are in many ways so bound up in 
the prosperity of her fellow-countrymen that Minnesota will 
in the end be as soundly protective as Wisconsin, Kansas, or 
California. 

12. As a measure for the reduction of the surplus the Mills 
Bill is a failure. The duties on braid, plaits, laces, and trim- 
mings were reduced by the act of 18S3 from tliirty to twenty 
per cent, ad valorem, and the sum paid in duties in 1SS7 '^'^'''^s 
$114,482.76 more than in 18S3. The reduction on tin plate, 
under the act of 1883, was one-tenth of a cent per pound, 
while the duty collected in 1887 was $715,468.57 greater than 
in 1883. Bronze — in powder — was reduced by the law of 
1883 from twenty to fifteen per cent., yet the sum received by 
the government for duty in 1887 was $14,000 more than was 
received from the same source in 18S3. The duty on writing 
paper was reduced from thirty-five to twenty-five jDer cent, 
ad valorem. The receipts in 1883 under the higher duty were 
$19,406.87 ; under the reduced duty in 1S87 the receipts were 
$242,216.27, showing an excess of duties of $223,000 in 1887 
over 1883. And, as before shown, the same result has been 
attained in wool and woolens. 

Mr. Cleveland warns the country that the continuance of the 
surplus will bring a commercial crisis. He is right, but his 
policy of tariff' reduction will increase the surplus and precipi- 
tate the disaster. 

13. The way to reduce the surplus is to abolish the 
internal tax on tobacco, and revise the tariff:' by imposing such 



384 THE RECORD OF ^ 

higher rates of duties upon imports coming into competition 
with articles produced in this country, in proper cases, as to 
check such imports and diminish the receipts at the custom 
house, while reducing duties upon articles, other than luxuries, 
not produced in the country. 

Such is the Republican plan. 

In dealing with sugar a difference of opinion has always 
existed among protectionists. Some Republicans favor remov- 
ing in whole, or in part, the duty upon sugar, on the ground 
that only about one-tenth of the domestic demand Is supplied 
by American producers. The abolition of the tobacco tax 
and a protectionist revision of the tariff' upon other articles, 
will so reduce the revenues as to render it necessary to retain 
for revenue purposes, at least half the sugar duties. 

The Mills bill, in accordance with the declared opinion of 
Mr. Mills that "upon correct jorinciples of taxation there 
should be a higher duty upon sugar than upon any other article 
in the dutiable list," fixes a high, although somewhat reduced, 
duty upon sugar. There is nothing surer than the raj^id 
increase of sugar production in the United States, and it ought 
to be fostered by protective duties. 

If combinations of domestic producers oppress consumers, 
relief can easily be secured, either by authorizing the Presi- 
dent in his discretion to temporarily free-list sugar, or by more 
direct legislative remedies. The same remark applies to all 
combinations or trusts. The advantages of combinations are 
within our reach, without our being compelled to suffer their 
evils. 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 3S5 

The Surplus and Whiskey Tax Qliestions. 
The Republican platform of iSSS has the following plank : 

" The Republican party would effect all needed reduction 
of the national revenue by repealing the taxes upon tobacco, 
which are an annoyance and burden to agriculture, and the 
tax upon spirits used in the arts and for mechanical purposes, 
and by such revision of the tariff' laws as will tend to check 
imports of such articles as are produced by our people, the 
production of which gives employment to our labor, and 
release from import duties those articles of foreign production 
(except luxuries) the like of which cannot l)e produced at 
home. If there shall still remain a larger revenue than is 
requisite for the wants of the government, we favor the entire 
repeal of internal taxes rather than the surrender of any part 
of our protective system, at the joint behests of the whiskey 
trusts and the agents of foreign manufacturers." 

Taken in connection with the explicit declarations in favor 
of the protective system and against free wool, the declaration 
here quoted is the strongest and soundest protection platform 
ever adopted by a national convention of any political party. 
The firm adhesion of the Nation to the principles of the Chi- 
cago platform would give us a basis for a national prosjoerity 
grander than any yet attained. 

The Republican party is practically united in support of the 
foregoing declaration, except that as to the concluding sen- 
tence, which implies the possible repeal of the whiskey tax, 
some apparent divergence of opinion exists ; but this diver- 
gence is more apparent than real. The platform does not 

25 



386 THE RECORD OF 

declare for the abolition of the whiskey tax ; it only declares 
that if, after repealing the tobacco tax and revising the tariff in 
a judicious manner, a surplus income should remain, all inter- 
nal taxation should be abolished rather than any part of the 
protective system be sacrificed. That is to say the Republi- 
can party prefers to tax imports from foreign countries rather 
than the productions or business of our own country. As an 
economic doctrine this is sound, and no intelligent protection- 
ist will dissent from the proposition. At the same time it 
ought to be well understood that no necessity for considering 
the question of the repeal of the whiskey tax can arise during 
the next administration. 

The repeal of the tobacco tax and the revision of the tai'iff 
in accordance with the principle of protection will effect ai 
sufficient reduction in the revenues of the government. At a 
more distant day the question of whether the whiskey tax is ; 
to be permanently retained or abolished will come up for dis- 
cussion. When it does, Congress may have to choose between 
the proposition of Mr. Blaine, that the tax on whiskey be* 
retained as long as there is any whiskey to tax, and the pro- 
ceeds of the tax be turned over to the state governments to ; 
assist in defraying their expenses, and the abolition of the tax 
altogether. The public mind is not at present fully prepared 
for the decision of this eventual question ; nor is it necessary 
that it should be considered at all in deciding the paramount 
tariff issue now to be met. The Republican party in Congress 
has given no support to the repeal of the whiskey tax, and the 
general drift of sentiment among the leaders of the party has 
been all along averse to such repeal. There is a moral side to 



i 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 387 

be considered in connection with the whiskey tax. The Pro- 
hibition party is, however, in no position to attack the Repub- 
lican party as a free whiskey party, for the Prohibition phit- 
form upon which Clinton B. Fisk was nominated, decLares 
" For the immediate abolition of the Internal Revenue Sys- 
tem, whereby our National Government is deriving support 
from our greatest national vice." 

If the party which founds itself upon the single idea of 
National prohibition demands the immediate abolition of the 
whiskey tax, and claims to be thereby promoting the true 
interests of temperance, judicious and candid temperance men 
will think twice before they too hastily condemn the Republi- 
can party because of the declaration on that subject made at 
Chicago. The framers of the Republican resolution evidently 
had in mind and gave some weight to the theory advanced by 
temperance men that a tax on the manufacture of liquors tends 
to protect and foster the liquor traffic, when they alluded to 
the desire of the " whiskey trusts " that the tax be maintained. 

But the opinion of Mr. Blaine and most other sagacious 
men is that the abolition of the tax would lead to the increase 
of distillation and the increase of consumption. 

The moral and financial questions connected with the whis- 
key tax will come up hereafter for delibei"ate examination. No 
issue is now presented on that subject, and voters will wisely 
direct their votes to the issue now to be decided between pro- 
tection and free trade. 

General Hai'rison expresses the practical truth about this 

matter when he says in his letter of acceptance that the ques- 

' lion of the whiskey tax is too remote for present consideration. 




CHESTER ALLAN ARTHUR, 

THE FIFTH REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Chapter IV. 



THE LABOR QUESTION. 

LABOR qUESTION RELATED TO POLITICS SPEECH OF S. B. ELKXNS 

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY THE LABOR PARTY OF THE COUNTRY — THE 

HOMESTEAD ACT PROTECTION FAIR ELECTIONS AND NATIONAL 

AID TO EDUCATION ESSENTIAL LABOR MEASURES. 

Although it is generally felt that a labor party, so called, 
representing exclusively the interests of wage earners, has no 
field of usefulness in the United States, it is nevertheless recog- 
nized by all thoughtful persons that the labor question, or the 
relations of labor to capital has come to be a subject of deep 
concern with vast mumbers of people. With the develop- 
ment of republican institutions the aspiration for approximate 
social equality has become a master passion dominating the 
age. It ought not to be an unregulated nor a wholly selfish 
passion, and in America it will not be. The laboi- movement 
is essentially a generous one and attracts the sympathy of all 
generous men, who, deploring the mistakes, follies, and ex- 
cesses which may temporarily and in certain instances attend 
it, hope and confidently believe that its general course will be 
constructive rather than destructive. The social and labor 
questions are inevitably in the field of politics. The policy, 
the tendency of the Republican and Democratic parties have a 
direct relation to labor questions. 

An address delivered by Hon. Stephen B. Elkins one of tlic 



390 THE RECORD OF 

most prominent Republicans of the country, at Columbia, 
Missouri, June 3, 1SS5, °" the labor question, contains many 
passages which ought to be reproduced in connection with a 
discussion of the great industrial issues which are pending in 
the election of 1S88 : 

" The world was never so rich in accvunulated wealth, com- 
forts of civilization, culture, intelligence, and charity. The 
average condition of the people is better than in any former 
period. Civilization has reached a higher point and light is 
breaking all around the globe. . . . The material progress 
made during the nineteenth century, especially in the last fifty 
years, surpasses that of all other periods of history. In Europe 
and the United States wealth has increased since 1S50 three 
times faster than population. Machinery has multiplied until 
its productive power in the United States and England alone 
is equal to the power of a thousand million men. Huxley 
says the 7,500,000 workers in England can produce as much 
in six months as would have required, one hundred years ago, 
the entire working force of the world one year to equal. In 
the United States wealth has increased from 1850 to 1SS4 forty- 
two thousand two hundred and forty millions of dollars. Ac- 
cording to Mulhall, since 1830 Great Britain has almost trebled ; 
her wealth ; France has quadrupled hers, and the United ! 
States has multiplied in wealth six fold, and at present we are ! 
growing nearly four millions richer at sunset than sunrise each j 
day. It is estimated that it requires less than one-half of\ 
the ?na7iual labor that was required in 186^ to produce an \ 
equal amount of subsistence. During this period great 
progress has been made in political and intellectual develop- ■ 



I 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 391 



ment. The schools, colleges, asylums, hospitals, churches, and 
benevolent institutions found everywhere are the monuments 
of increasing charity and philanthropy. The nineteenth cen- 
tury will be set down in the world's history as the centuiy of 
material j^rogress. May we not believe that it will furnish the 
foundation for a moral progress not less wonderful in the 
twentieth century, in the shadow of whose portals we now 
stand, in which the moral forces will grow and be strength- 
ened, and man will be made gentler, wiser and purer, so that 
in the statel}^ procession of centuries the twentieth will take its 
place as the century of moral progress. The signs point in 
this direction and encourage this belief. 

" In this great march of progress the United States takes the 
lead. In this rich world this nation stands the richest. The 
valuation of property in 1SS4 was $51,670,000,000 in round 
numbers; that of Great Britain, mother and rival, being more 
than six thousand millions less. Gladstone, in his article on 
'Kin Beyond the Sea,' declared ' that the census of 18S0 
would exhibit the American Republic as certainly the wealthiest 
of all nations,' and he did not err. . . . While we recount 
with pride and pleasure the progress made by the nations of 
Europe, and particularly by the United States, we cannot forget 
that an undertone of discontent reaches us, which gives us 
pause. In the very nations where this advance has been so 
gi'eat, there is wide-spread depression in trade and commerce, 
and dissatisfaction among the people. While making all these 
splendid triumphs and material progress in works of charity and 
benevolence, conditions necessary to the highest social progress 
have been neglected. In Europe this discontent is due to two 



392 THE RECORD OF 

causes. One, the unfinished struggle on the part of the people 
for political freedom. . . . These nations have also to 
deal with another cause — the industrial question, involving 
the relations between labor and capital, employer and em- 
ployed, the rate of wages, and the proper distribution of 
wealth, which is the recurring question of all civilization, the 
problem of all the ages. . . . The settlement of one of 
these problems has made this nation great and its people 
happy. . . . Having secured a government by the people 
and for the people, which has stood the test of foreign and 
civil war, shown its ability in dealing with the most compli- 
cated questions, and is about completing the first century of its 
existence, the nation now has to deal with the industrial prob- 
lem. The great increase in population, large immigration from 
Europe — amounting in four years to over twenty-four hundred 
thousand people — overcrowding of cities, rapid absorption of 
public lands, consideration of wealth, importation of contract 
labor, and other causes, are reproducing in New England, and 
in many of the Middle and Western States, many of the eco- 
nomic and social conditions of Europe. In the midst of great 
wealth, with powers of production unsurpassed, with material 
success unparalleled, there is, nevertheless, depression in 
trade and commerce. 

" In this land of plenty, there is, in places, the beginning ol 
want ; 350,000 workers are without employment, upon whose 
labor more than a million women and children depend 
for food, shelter, and clothing. How many are working on 
half-time, fighting hunger, and in this way supporting their 
own existence and the existence of those dependent upon them, 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 393 

cannot be estimated. Many who have employment are forced, 
by competition, to accept a rate of wages that yields a bare 
subsistence. ... In the cities workers are forced into 
packed and crowded tenement houses, where foul air breeds 
disease and certain death. The tenement house population of 
New York City, amounting to 500,000, live in 20,000 houses. 
. . . These evils have grown with our growth. They are 
largely the outcome here, as in Europe, of the existing indus- 
trial system. It would be folly to condemn, as a whole, a sys- 
tem which, with all its faults, has merits, and has brought us 
thus far on our onward march. But in a century the United 
States will have a population of two hundred millions. It be- 
hooves us, therefore, to seriously consider whether we should 
take the risk of going on under a system that permits such evils 
as now exist, and encourages industrial war between employer 
and employed. . . . The question is both industrial and so- 
cial, and concerns, not the capitalist nor the wage receiver ex- 
clusively, nor the one more than the other, but the whole body 
of society and the state itself. No question more serious or of 
graver moment ever came before the American people, and 
upon its right settlement may not only depend the future of 
society, but ultimately the fate of the great Republic. 
In this great Republic ; in its fresh morning life, before wrong, 
error, and injustice have had time to crystallize ; with no in- 
herited disposition to classes or caste ; with all power in a 
people advancing in intelligence ; with sixty centuries of re- 
corded example and experience behind us ; the underbrush of 
the tyrannies, en-ors, and prejudices of centuries cut away ; the 
situation clearly in view, and the question pressing for solu- 



394 THE RECORD OF 

tion, this would seem the time to begin and our country the 
place to solve the problem of ages. To preve?it industrial 
vjar^ to regulate the forces of competition^ to secure to labor 
a larger share of the products it helps to create^ shorter 
ho2irs for ivork^ longer hours for leisure and iinprovement^ 
and to lessen the cares and distresses of pox'erty^ is an atnbi- 
tion worthy of American manhood. If we shrink from the 
duty so plainly laid upon us, or fail in the great undertaking, 
hope will be well-nigh extinguished. 

"Struggling humanity awaits theaction of the great Republic, 
to see if, after giving man government on a Christian basis, 
it will give him industry on a Christian basis, and thus take the 
next great step in civilizTation. Sparse population in most of 
the states ; the general diffusion of property, real and personal ; 
the accumulation of savings ; the restraint of passions ; the 
slumber of pride and envy, and the comparative freedom fi-om 
want, are all guarantees of peace and order for the present, 
and permit us to hope that danger is remote, and that no revo- 
lution threatens the form and substance of society and govern- 
ment. We can, therefore, calmly approach the consideration 
of the question, gather information, study causes, avoid the 
errors of other ages, and seriously consider in a spirit of fair- 
ness, relying upon no fancied advantage or security, what as 
individuals and as a nation we ought to do. Let us feel that 
we are on the threshold of a revolution, having for its end and 
aim the bettering of the condition of our fellow-man, to be 
wrought out through peaceable methods, with sublime thoughts 
' that pierce the night like stars,' and noble ideas and deeds for 
weapons. ... In the United States it is true that wages 



^1 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 395 

have advanced during the last twenty-five years. But the 
wants to be satisfied, in order to support life on the same rela- 
tive plane as before, have also increased. And this is right; 
it would be a violence to human nature if it were not so. As 
the woidd grows in power of production, man ought to grow 
in taste and needs. His desire for a larger and higher state of 
existence does grow, and ought to grow as fast as the means of 
satisfying that desire. Hence, at all times the true question 
is, not whether workers receive more than before, but 
whether they produce more and get a larger proportion of 
what is produced thafi before. ..... 

" It is plain that some adjustment must be reached by which 
the war now raging between employer and employed in the 
industrial world must come to an end, and be superseded by a 
system that will unite the interests of the employer and those 
of the employed. ........ 

' ' Nature has made provision for all her sons. The industrial 
system which does not permit the worthy to get enough is at 
fault. One of the greatest statesmen and orators of our times 
has said ' wages are unjustly reduced when an industrious 
man is not able by his earnings to live in co?nfort, educate 
his children, and lay by a sufficient amount for the necessi- 
ties of age.' [Mr. Blaine.]" 

Mr. Elkins proceeds to express his dissent from the '•'• lais- 
sezfaire" doctrine, to advocate national aid to education, re- 
striction in the amount, and reform in the methods of local tax- 
ation " which falls heaviest on the worker, and often robs him 
of the ability to save from his earnings." 

"Legal restraints are needed against the holding of lands 



396 THE RECORD OF 

for speculative purposes, depending ujDon increased population 
and settlement to make them valuable." "All public lands 
suitable for agriculture should be reserved as homes for the 
people, and hereafter sold only to American citizens, or those 
who in good faith declare their intention of becoming actual 
settlers. Grants of land not earned should be forfeited to the 
government." " There should be a better supervision of state 
and inter-state commerce, wiser supervision of banks, trust 
companies, and life insurance companies, and adequate meas- 
ures for the establishment of pojDular savings banks in all parts 
of the country. Protection of American industry and Ameri- 
can labor should be more wisely fostered and more efficient. 
Pauper immigration and importation of contract labor should 
be more effectively prevented. Laws should be passed to re- 
strict child labor, to provide for the health of those employed 
in factories. 

"Over capitalization of corporations, watering of stocks, the 
people should take care to check by stringent legislation," 

Mr. Elkins proceeds in the same address to advocate : 

I . Arbitration and conciliation, 

3. Cooperation, and 

3. Profit sharing. 

We have quoted thus at length from this eloquent and 
thoughtful addi'ess of Mr. Elkins because, first, of its intrinsic 
merits, and second, because it is the utterance of a representa- 
tive Republican. 

The Democratic jDoliticians have artfully endeavored to 
create an impression that the Republican party has not been 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 397 

as friendly to the interests of the poorer citizens as the Demo- 
cratic. A more monstrous perversion of the truth could not 
be made. The truth is that the Democratic party cannot poi^it 
to a single achievement, during the last fifty years, of that 
party in the interest of labor. The Democratic party has ever 
been the party of mere negation, the party of obstruction, the 
do-nothing party. The Republican party has been the great 
labor party of the country. The homestead policy, the pres- 
ervation of the Western territories as free soil, the restoration 
of the iDrotective system, the abolition of slavery, the enfran- 
chisement of the colored race, were all Republican measures, 
all great labor measures, and were all bitterly resisted by the 
Democrats. » The Homestead Act was carried through Con- 
gress by the Republicans with little help from Democrats 
in the year 1S60 when the presidential election was pending. 
The bill was vetoed by President Buchanan, the last Demo- 
cratic President elected before Mr. Cleveland, on the ground 
that it was unconstitutional, unjust to the old states, and be- 
cause it was a measure which "will go far to demoralize the 
people." The bill failed to pass the Senate over the veto of 
Buchanan, the Democrats voting eighteen against the bill and 
nine in favor. The Republican platform in 1S60 contained a 
strong declaration in favor of free homesteads, and the poor 
man's homestead triumphed in Republican success. In 1S62 
a homestead bill, granting 160 acres to every actual settler on 
the public lands, twenty-one years or more of age, who is or 
has declared his intention to become a citizen, was enacted. 
The vote in the Senate on the bill was yeas 33, nays 7. Of 
the yeas, 30 were Republicans and 3 Democrats ; of the nays, 6 



398 THE RECORD OF 

were Democrats and i Republican. In the House the vote 
stood yeas T14, nays 18. Of the yeas, 92 were Republicans 
and 22 Democrats ; of the nays, 15 were Democrats and 3 were 
Republicans. 

Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act. 

The Republican party is now striving to bring about three 
things that are in the interest of labor in every part of the 
United States. One of these things is the maintenance and 
the perfection of the system of protection to American labor 
by the tariff" on foreign imports. 

This is indispensable to the progress of labor in this country. 
No intelligent protectionist claims that the higher wages in 
this country than in Europe or China are due entirely to the 
tariff' protection, nor that protection is all that labor needs. 
But every intelligent man knows that without protection wages 
and the standard of living would fall ; and that if into our own 
field of labor, of study, and of experiment in the solution 
of labor and social questions, the American mechanic and 
laborer permits to come the competition of the industries of 
foreign countries, over whose policy and whose customs we 
have no control and no influence save that which is indirect, 
the end of progress and hope for labor and social reform in 
America will have been reached. 

Stripped of all disguise, Mr. Cleveland's reelection will be a 
decision in favor of giving up the control of the markets of the 
United States to those who can come and take them. Such a 
verdict the intelligent workingmen of the United States will 
never render. 

Labor has a great stake in the restoration of the colored race 

I 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 399 

to political activity, in the restoration of that race to a laro-e 
measure of political power. If that race, destined to be multi- 
plied to many millions, shall sink down into insignificance 
and ignoble content with poor and lowly conditions, a ball and 

jj chain will be thereby hung about the limbs of labor in the 
North. No party demanding to be led in the path of popular 
progress, no party mindful of justice to the poor and to labor, 
is possible in such states as South Carolina and Mississippi 
except a party founded in large part upon the basis of the col- 
ored vote. If the negro fails to regain the ballot, his wages 

.i will remain very low, and his practical slavery will constantly 

I depress the condition of labor in the North. 

The position of the Republican party upon the subjecfof 
national aid to education gives the Republicans title to every 
labor vote in America. 




Chapter V. 



FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS. 

THE SUPPRESION OF SUFFRAGE IN THE SOUTH — GROVER CLEVELAND 
NOT FAIRLY ELECTED — MR. BAYARD's PROPHECY — IMPARTIAL 
TESTIMONY AS TO DEMOCRATIC FRAUD — THE SILENT SOUTH — 
REPUBLICANS PLEDGED TO RESTORE THE BALLOT TO THE 
COLORED RACE — MR. BLAINE'S AUGUSTA SPEECH — A FREE BALLOT 
THE GROUND OF REPUBLICAN UNITY — THE SOUTH DAKOTA qUES- 
TION. 

The Republican Platform adopted at Chicago, in June, 1888, 
contains this declaration : 

"We reaffirm our unswei-ving devotion to the National 
Constitution, and to the indisoluble union of the states ; to 
the autonomy reserved to the states under the Constitution ; to 
the personal rights and liberties of citizens in all the states and 
territories in the Union, and especially to the supreme and 
sovereign right of every lawful citizen, rich or poor, native or 
foreign born, white or black, to cast one free ballot in public 
elections, and to have that ballot duly counted. We hold the , 
free and honest popular ballot, and the just and equal repre- 
sentation of all the people to be the foundation of our republi- 
can government, and demand effective legislation to secure the 
integrity and purity of elections, which are the fountains of all 
public authority. We charge that the present administration 
and the Democratic majority in Congress, owe their existence 
to the suppression of the ballot by a criminal nullification of 
the Constitution and Laws of the United States." 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 401 

Every Intelligent man in the country knows, or may know, 
that Grover Cleveland would not now be the President of the 
United States, if a fair election could have been had in the 
States of South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, 
Arkansas, and Alabama. These six states cast forty-seven 
electoral votes for President. In a fair election they are all 
Republican. Especially certain for the Republicans are 
South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida. These 
last four states cast thirty electoral votes. Any three of these 
four states would have elected James G. Blaine. The leaders 
of the Democratic party have, ever since the war, been plan- 
ning for the restoration of their power by the thrusting out of 
the negro as a factor in determining political results. In the 
Forty-second Congress, Senator Bayard attached his name to a 
minority report of a committee which had investigated South- 
ern elections, in which these words occur : 

" But whenever the Republican party shall go down, as go 
down it will at some time not long in the future, that will be 
the end of the political power of the negro among white men 
on this continent." 

The resistance of the Southern Democrats to the constitu- 
tional rights of the colored race has been continued so long 
and so successfully, that a large part of the Northern people 
have become wearied with the subject, and are inclined either 
to doubt whether the Republican allegation that suffrage has 
been suppressed in Southern States is true, or to a belief that 
nothing can be done by political action to remedy the wrongs 
complained of. 

36 






402 THE RECORD OF 

It is not the part of honor or of wisdom for the people to 
grow careless as to whether the colored race is stripped of the 
rights which the Nation conferred. 

The Republican party has resolutely refused to become 
blind or indifferent to this long continued stifling of the popu- 
lar will by Democratic fraud and violence, and not only pro- 
tests against the wrong, but expresses its purpose of correcting 
these evils as soon as it recovers power. 

A vast amount of proof of Democratic crime in elections in 
the South has been accumulated and brought to the attention 
of the people through Congressional investigations, but we 
have thought it well to adduce here some evidence of a con- 
vincing and conclusive character. In 1879 there was published 
in New York a book entitled White and Black; the Out- 
cojne of a Visit to the Ujiited States. The author was Sir 
George Campbell, a Scottish member of the British Parlia- 
ment, a gentleman of intelligence and character who had occu- 
pied a responsible post in the administration of the govern- 
ment of India. Mr. Campbell made an extensive touri 
throughout the South in the year 187S, and was an attentive' 
observer of the condition of the colored race in the states he! 
visited. He was present in South Carolina at the time of the: 
Congressional election in 1878, when the famous tissue ballot 
frauds were perpetrated, and his testimony is of great value 
because it is that of an intelligent witness, entirely disinter-, 
ested and impartial, who had full opportunity to learn thetruthi 
of the case. It will be remembered that the Republican party; 
was first overthrown in South Carolina in 1876 through the, 
agency of the rifle clubs organized by the Democractic party 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 403 

Actual violence carried to the extreme of murder havino- ac- 
complished a political revolution in 1S76, it was now resolved 
by the Democrats, in 1878, to complete this ascendancy by 
equally criminal but less brutal methods. Fraud took the 
place of force. 

Mr. Campbell thus narrates what he witnessed in South 
Carolina in 1S78 : 

" To return to the history of South Carolina. After the 
withdrawal of the United States troops the carpet-baggers 
were entirely routed and put to flight, and Wade Hampton 
assumed the undisputed government. He has certainly had 
much success. His party claims (I believe with justice) that 
he has done much to restore the finances, promote education, 
and protect blacks and whites in the exercise of peaceful call- 
ings. As regards political matters, his policy amounts, I 
think, to this — it is in efl^ect said to the blacks : ' If you will 
accept the present regime^ follow us, and vote Democratic, 
we will receive you, cherish you, and give you a reasonable 
share of representation, local office, etc. ; but there shall be 
nothing for those who persist in voting Republican.' Some 
of them accept these terms, but to vote Democratic is the one 
thing which the great majority will not do. They may be on 
excellent terms with white men with whom they have rela- 
tions, will follow them and be guided by them in everything 
else, but they have sufficient independence to hold out on that 
point of voting, even when they have lost their white leaders 
and are quite left to themselves. They* know that they owe 
their freedom to the Republicans, and it is to them a sort of 



404 THE RECORD OF 

religion to vote Republican. In South Carolina that is the 
view of the great body of the blacks, as the Democrats fully 
admit. Stories are told of personal dependents of the present 
governor who owe everything to him, and would do anything 
else in the world for him, but who will yet openly vote against 
him. Such, then, was the state of things when the elections 
of November, 1878, came on. It seemed to be well known 
beforehand that the Democrats were determined to win every- 
thing in the South. 

'• It was said to be a necessity finally to emancipate all the 
states from the scandal of black and carpet-bag rule, and sc 
far one could not but sympathize with the feeling ; but sc 
much had already been achieved, and there was not the least 
risk of a reaction. On the contrary, the power of the native 
whites was thoroughly reestablished. In South Carolina 
Wade Hampton's reelection was not opposed, and there was 
no question whatever that by moderate means the Democrats 
could retain a very decided majority in the state legislature, 
But they were not content with this ; they aimed at an abso- 
lute possession of everything, leaving no representation tc 
their opponents at all, and especially at a' Solid South ' in the 
United States Congress. 'They are determined to win,' I wa.' 
told. 'They will get the votes by fair means if they can, and i: 
not, I am sorry to say, they will steal 'em.' And that is just wha 
was done in South Carolina. . . . There is a remarkablt 
frankness and openness in speaking of the way in which thing! 
were managed, and I believe I violate no confidences, becaus( 
there was no whisptring or confidence about it. There wa: 
not a very great amount of violence or intimidation. Soni' 



I 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 405 

Republican meetings were violently interfered with before the 
election, and on the day of the election there was at some 
places a certain amount of galloping about, firing guns, and 
such-like demonstration by men in red shirts ; but any intimi- 
dation used was rather moral than physical. In all districts 
where the parties in any degree approach equality, perhaps 
there would be no very strong grounds for disputing the vic- 
tory of the Democrats. It is in the lower districts, where the 
Republicans are admittedly in an immense majority, that great 
Democratic majorities were obtained by the simple process of 
what is called ' stuffing the ballot-boxes.' For this purpose 
the Democrats used ballot-papers of the thinnest possible tis- 
sue paper, such that a number of them can be packed inside 
of one larger paper and shaken out as they are dropped into 
the box. These papers were freely handed about ; they were 
shown to me, and I brought away specimens of them. 

" I never heard a suggestion that these extraordinary little 
gossamer-web things were designed for any other purpose than 
fraud. Of course, the result of such a system was that there 
were many more ballot-papers in the box than voters. At one 
place in the Charleston district, where not above one thou- 
sand persons voted, there were found, I believe, three thousand 
five hundred papers in the box. 

" In such a case, the practice (whether justified by law or 
not, I know not,) is that the election managers blindfold a man, 
iwho draws out and destroys the number of papers in excess 
of the voters. Of course, he takes care to draw out the thick 
oapers of the opposite party, and to leave in the thin papers of 
ais own party ;tind so when the process is completed the Demo- 



4o6 THE RECORD OF - 

crats are found to be in a great majority, and the return is so" 
made by the returning board. There are some other grounds 
of complaint. In some of the black districts the number of 
polling-places has been so reduced that it is impossible for all 
who wish to poll to do so in the time allowed. At one or two 
places the ballot-boxes were stolen and carried off. At one 
place of which I have personal knowledge, the appointed 
election managers simply kept out of the way, and had no 
poll at all. Hundreds of blacks who came to vote were told 
that they must go elsewhere, when it was too late to do so. 

" In short, I have no hesitation in saying, as matter within, 
my own knowledge, that, if these elections had taken place in 
England, there were irregularities which must have vitiated; 
them before an election judge a hundred times over. " 

" The result of these elections was that, except in the single! 
county of Beaufort, not one Republican or Independent wasi 
returned to the state legislature ; nor, I believe, was a single] 
office-bearer of those persuasions elected. The dominant j 
party took everything, and the Republican members of Con-{ 
gress were all ejected. South Carolina returns a solid Demo- j 
cratic representation to the next Congress." 

Having thus obtained full control of affairs by crimes ofj 
force and fraud, the South Carolina Democrats desired to per-| 
petuate their power without the necessity of resorting at each 
recurring election to the same methods. 

Accordingly, in 1882 the Democratic legislature enacted a 
new law regulating the registration of voters and the conduct 
of elections. The provisions of this law are ingeniously con- 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 



407 



trived to accomplish the disfranchisement of voters. One 
extraordinary requirement is that each voter shall present at 
the polls where he offers to vote, a certificate of registration, 
w^hich he receives when he registers. As a result of the 

ll violence and fraud employed in the past to carry elections, and 
finally of the outrageous election legislation, the vote of the 

I, people in South Carolina has been almost entirely suppressed. 

fi Very similar results have been effected by similar causes in 
other Southern States. 

y The following tables show to what extent the suppression of 
suffrage has proceeded in South Carolina, Mississippi, and 
Georgia. Comparison is made between the vote in years when 
suffrage was free and the Congressional election of 1886, under 
a Democratic President when the nullification of the constitu- 

r: tion had been accomplished : 

i 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 



VOTE IN COxVG. DISTRICTS, i8S6. 



DiST. 


Rkp. 


I 


No opp. 


a 




3 




4 




S 




6 




7 


S.961 



Dem. 



Total Vote. 



3,3'S 

S,2I2 

4,403 

4.470 
4,696 
4,411 
6.493 



3.317 

4,409 

4.470 
4,701 
4,469 

12,476 



VOTE IN CONG. DISTRICTS, 1870. 



Rep. 



20,221 
15.700 
20,564 
16,746 



Dem. 



11,628 
i6,6S6 
"3.997 
'3.443 



Total Votb. 



31.S49 
3*.386 
34.561 
30,iSS 



Total Vote, 1SS6, . 


• 39.077 


Voters, 


iSSo. 




Total Vote, 1S84, . 


90,689 


White, 




86,yoo 


Total Vote, 1SS2, . 


• '2",399 


Colored, 




118,889 



4o8 



THE RECORD OF 

MISSISSIPPI. 



VOTE IN CONG. DISTRICTS, i8S6. ' 


VOTE IN CONG. DISTRICTS, 1S72. 


DlST. 


Rep. 


Dem. 


Total Vote. 


Rep. 


Dem. 


Total Vote. 


I 


No. opp. 


3 "4° 


3.167 


4.9S4 


9,670 


14,624 


3 


4.417 


6.837 


11,254 


14.83' 


S,2i6 


23,047 


3 


2,382 


4.S'S 


6,900 


15.047 


6,440 


21,487 


4 


No. opp. 


2,g64 


3,086 


15,795 


6,879 


32,674 


S 


" 


42S9 


4.316 


14.S17 


8.073 


32,090 


6 


■ 3.82s 


8,284 


12,117 


15,161 


8,509 


23,610 


7 


No. opp. 


4.S08 


4.S'4 









GEORGIA. 

Voters, iSSo. 

^Vhite 177.967 

Colored i43.47i 



Total, 321.43S 

Total vote in Congressional Districts, 1SS6, .... 27,520 

Ten members of Congress were chosen by 27,520 votes, 
more than that number behig usually required to choose a 
single congressman in the North. 

It has been said that as the Republican party during its con- 
tinuance in power failed to protect the colored voters of the 
South in the exercise of their rights, there is no reason to 
believe that a restoration of Republican rule would correct 
these evils, and it is further alleged that there is under our i 
system of government no remedy for such wrongs. To these 
objections there is an easy answer. The Republicans lost 
control of the House of Representatives in 1874, and have 
but once since elected a majority of the house ; and that once 
was in 1880, when General Garfield was elected President, 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 409 

whose unhappy death and the resulting political disturbances 
prevented the accomplishment of Republican policy, until in 
1882 the Democrats again carried the House. The Democrats 
have been able to hold the Republicans in check on all ques- 
tions, by means of the representation at Washington secured 
by the criminal methods of the Southern Democracy. 

With the return of the Republicans to power in both 
Houses of Congress and in the Presidency, the restoration of 
fair elections in the South will not be found difficult. Mem- 
bers of Congress elected bj^ fraud will then be unseated, and 
laws adequate to protect the purity of the ballot can then be 
passed and enforced. Little, however, of coercion will be 
needed. The moral effect of a popular condemnation of 
Democratic election crimes will be sufficient to break up the 
political solidity of the South, already beginning to dissolve. 

A leading Ohio editor states the issue for 188S in these words : 

" The question whether we shall have a government of nul- 
lifiers, is that upon which we, the people of the United States 
who ordained and established the Constitution, shall enter 
judgment in the election of 1888." 

When the result of the presidential election of 18S4 was 
fully known, Mr. Blaine in his famous Augusta speech thus 
spoke of the suppression of suffrage in the South, which at 
last had given to the Democratic party the Presidency : 

" This subject is of deep interest to the laboring men of the 
North. With the Southern Democracy triumphant in the 
states and in the Nation, the negro will be compelled to work 
for just such wages as the whites may decree ; wages which 
will amount, as did the supplies of the slave, to a bare sub- 



1 



.^lo THE RECORD OF 

sistence, equated in cash perhaps at thirty-five cents per day, 
if averaged over the entire vSouth. The white laborer in the 
North will soon feel the destructive effect of this upon his 
own wages. The Republican party has clearly seen from the 
earliest days of reconstruction that wages in the South must 
be raised to a just recompense of the laborer, or wages in the 
North ruinously lowered, and it has steadily worked for the 
former result. The reverse influence will now be set in 
motion, and that condition of affairs reproduced which 
years ago Mr. Lincoln warned the free laboring men of the 
North will prove hostile to their independence, and will inev- 
itably lead to a ruinous reduction of wages." 

When Mr. Bayard, speaking the sentiment of the Demo- 
cratic leaders, declares that the political power of the negro 
on this continent has come to an end, the Republican party 
takes issue ; and standing upon the Constitution of the Repub- 
lic, upon the law of the land, upon the immortal declaration 
that all men are created equal, upon the rights of human 
nature, it flings back to the Southern Democracy the disloyal 
sentiment, and declares that the political power of no Ameri- 
can citizen, and of no class of American citizens shall come 
to an end in this free republic. 

The Republicans welcome the issue. Strong as they are on 
the tariff, deserving as they are of the confidence of the busi- 
ness interests, stronger they are by far when thev proclaim that 
the fraudulent rule of a usurping class shall come to an end, 
and that the fountain of political power shall flow pure and 
free. 

Republicans not entirelv in accord with tlie party policv o 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 411 

the tariff will be united in favor of the restoration of Republi- 
can rule on the paramount issue of a free ballot. 

The Exclusion of South Dakota. 

Not only has the Democratic party seized control of the 
government by the fraudulent suppression of the suffrage of 
the colored race in the Southern States, but it has now for 
years refused to admit South Dakota to the Union, although 
the people have formed a state constitution and urgently 
demanded admission. A great wrong has been done to the 
people of South Dakota, and the disfranchisement of 400,000 
people is a great wrong to the whole Union. No state 
admitted since the organization of the government has been so 
well prepared for admission as South Dakota. The Republi- 
cans of the Senate have twice passed a bill to admit the new 
state, but the Democratic House refuses to act on the 
measure. South Dakota is denied admission, because she 
will be a Republican State. Union veterans from older West- 
ern States constitute an important part of the population of the 
new state, while the foreign immigrants are chiefly Swedes, 
Norwegians, and Germans, whose political affiliation is with 
the Republicans. A Democratic Senator objected in debate 
in the Senate to the admission of South Dakota because there 
were so manv foreigners in the State. General Harrison while 
in the Senate was the especial champion of the rights of South 
Dakota to statehood. 

The triumph of the Republican party will be followed by 
the admission of South Dakota and other Northwestern States, 
thus strengthening in the Union the forces of education, of 
popular progress, and true national development. 



Chapter VI 



PENSIONS. 

DEPENDENT PENSION BILL OF 1887 — VETO OF PRESIDENT CLEVELAND 
— DEPENDENT PENSION BILL OF 1888 — MR. CLEVELAND AND THE 
DEMOCRATS UNWILLING TO DO JUSTICE TO THE SOLDIERS OF THE 
UNION — WASHINGTON AND CLEVELAND IN CONTRAST — VETOES OF 
SPECIAL PENSION BILLS. 

A CLEARLY defined issue has arisen between President Cleve- 
land, supported by the Democrats in Congress, on the one 
side, and the Republicans in Congress on the other. 

January 27, 1887, a bill passed the Senate, in concurrence 
vs^ith the House of Representatives, entitled a "Bill for the 
relief of dependent parents and honorably discharged soldiers 
and sailors, who are now disabled and dependent upon their 
own labors for support." 

This bill provided, first : "That in considering the pen- 
sion claims of dependent parents, the fact and cause of death, 
and the fact that the soldier left no widow or minor children, 
having been shown as required by law, it shall be necessary 
only to show by competent and sufficient evidence that such 
parent, or parents, are without other present means of support 
than their own manual labor, or the contributions of others 
not legally bound for their support ; " and second, "that all 
persons who served three months or more in the military or 
naval service of the United States in any war in which the 
United States has been engaged, and who have been honorably 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 413 

discharged therefrom, and who are now, or who may hereafter 
be suffering from mental or physical disability, not the result of 
their vicious habits or gross carelessness, which incapacitates 
them for the performance of labor in such a degree as to ren- 
der them unable to earn a support, and who are dependent 
upon their daily labor for support, shall, upon making due 
proof of the fact according to such rules and regulations as the 
Secretary of the Interior may provide in pursuance of this act, 
be placed on the list of invalid pensioners of the United States, 
and be entitled to receive, for such total inability to procure 
their subsistence by daily labor, twelve dollars per month." 

This bill was passed to meet the cases of parents who were 
not actually dependent upon their sons for support at the time 
the sons enlisted, but who have since been deprived of other 
means of support than their own labor. All such parents 
are now aged persons, and very many are in extreme poverty, 
who would be dependent upon their sons who gave their lives 
to the country, if such sons were now living. 

The other and more numerous class of cases which this bill 
was passed to relieve, is. that of soldiers and sailors \^o are 
without property and so disabled or infirm that they cannot 
earn their subsistence by labor, but who are unable to prove 
that their present disability is the result of injury received, or 
disease contracted in the service. The relief extended to this 
class of soldiers and sailors by the bill, proceeds upon the 
ground that the nature of the service was such that constitu- 
tions were impaired and premature disability caused in numer- 
ous cases where the same cannot be directly traced by evidence, 



414 THE RECORD OF 

as now required by law. It is also maintained by the Repub- 
licans in Congress that aside from the presumption that pixsent 
disability is really due in many cases to the effects of the service, . 
a further reward is due to the soldiers who saved the Nation, and 
that the Nation is bound in gratitude and honor to provide for 
all its defenders, when through advancing years and natural 
decay they become unable to support themselves. The passage 
of this bill was demanded by the general voice of the veterans 
of the War of the Rebellion. President Cleveland vetoed this 
bill on February ii, 1S87. 

The President argued in his veto message that the bill was 
substantially a service pension bill, and suggested that our sol- 
diery, " in their pay and bounty, received such compensation 
for military service as has never been received by soldiers 
before, since mankind first went to war." He also advised 
Congress to " meditate somewhat " upon the probable cost, 
and expi'essed the opinion that it would prevent a reduction of, 
the tariff which he claimed the people demanded. 

The Committee on Invalid Pensions of the House of Rep- 
resentatives to whom was referred the President's veto mes- 
sage, unanimously recommended that the bill be passed, not- 
withstanding the objections of the President ; and a large 
majority of the House voted to pass the bill over the veto, but 
as most of the Southern Democrats, including' many who ! 
served in the rebel army, voted to sustain the veto, the bill 
failed to receive the required two-thirds vote. 

The Republicans voted to pass the bill over the veto. 

At the first session of the Fiftieth Congress, which opened on 
the first Monday in December, 1887, the Republican Senate 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 4,5 

passed another bill, granting pensions to ex-soldiers and sailors 
who are incapacitated for the performance of manual labor, 
and providing for pensions to dependent relatives of deceased 
soldiers and sailors. The bill was essentially like the one 
vetoed, except that the incapacity for manual labor was re- 
quired to be "total." The rate of pension to a disabled 
soldier or sailor was $12 per month, as in the vetoed bill. 
This bill came down from the Senate to the House March 10, 
1888, and on the 14th of April, iSSS, was reported to the 
House by the Committee on Invalid Pensions with certain 
amendments, which the Democratic majority of the committee 
had agreed to. The principal of these amendments was one 
changing the rate of pensions from $12 per month to one cent 
per month for each day's service in the military or naval ser- 
vice of the United States. Another amendment gives every 
soldier and sailor who has attained the age of sixty-two years 
a pension at the rate aforesaid. This last pension has not been 
asked for by the Grand Army of the Republic, which has peti- 
tioned for the pensioning of those incapacitated for labor, and 
the Republican minority of the committee dissent from this 
mere service pension as compromising the Interests of the dis- 
abled and suffering veterans. The Republican minority also 
dissent strongly from the proposal of the Democrats, to pay a 
less pension than $12 per month to any disabled soldier or 
sailor. Under the Democratic amendment a soldier who had 
served three months would get ninety cents a month ; if six 
months, $i.So; if nine months, $2.70; if twelve months, 
$3.60; if twenty-four months, $7.20; if three years, $10.80. 
Such a provision would be inadequate and contemptible, 



4i6 THE RECORD OF j 

but it is the offering of the Democrats of the House commit- 
tee to the disabled soldiers of the Republic. 
The Republican minority say in their report : 

" It is variously estimated that there are in almshouses from 
ten to twenty thousand of the men who patriotically responded 
to the call of the government, and bravely fought for the pres- 
ervation of the Union. Had it not been for these men and 
others like them, the Union would have been destroyed and 
the government overthrown. That a single one of these men 
should be the object of public charity, unless perchance the 
destitution which has overtaken him is the result of his own 
misconduct, is a reproach and shame to this great government, 
the treasury of which is groaning under a rapidly accumulating 
surplus." 

Unless President Cleveland is defeated for reelection, and 
the Republicans restored to power in Congress, there is small 
hope that justice will be done to the soldiers of the Union. 

An instructive contrast is presented by the attitude of Gen- 
eral Washington and that of Mr. Cleveland. A committee of 
our army in 1778 called upon Washington and made known 
their demands and sufferings. In his address to them he replied : 

" It is not indeed consistent with reason or justice to expect 
that one set of men should make a sacrifice of property, 
domestic ease, and happiness, encounter the rigors of the field, 
the perils and vicissitudes of war, to obtain those blessings 
which every citizen will enjoy in common with them without 
some adequate compensation. It must also be a comfortless 
reflection to any man that after he may have contributed to 
securing the rights of his country, at the risk of life and the 



THE REPUBLICAN Px\RTY. 417 

ruin of his fortune, there would be no provision made to pre- 
vent himself and family from sinking into indigence and 
wretchedness." — Journal of Congress^ volume IV., page 21 1 . 
President Cleveland has also vetoed a very large number of 
special pension bills, passed by Congress for the relief of dis- 
abled soldiers or their needy dependents. These vetoes in 
nearly every instance have been based upon frivolous and 
heartless reasons, and have aroused throughout the country»the 
I intense indignation of all well-informed and right-minded per- 
sons. Attempt has been made to claim for the President 
special credit for courage and a disposition to protect the 
treasury against reckless pension legislation by Congress. The 
record will not sustain this theory. Wherever the merits of 
these pension bills and the cruel vetoes have been discussed, 
the sober judgment of the people condemns the course of the 
ij President. 

I It is a petty and unprecedented use of the veto power, to 
nullify the act of Congress in granting a pension to a needy 
soldier or his dependents. These pensions are never granted 
without careful consideration, by the committees of Congress, 
of sworn evidence in support of the claim, and the bill in each 
case originates with a representative of the people, who has 
the best opportunity for knowing what the real merits of the 
case are. 

Mr. Cleveland's vetoes have been based upon a hasty and 
unadvised reading of the evidence, and the vetoes themselves 
exhibit a narrow and ungenerous spirit. Mr. Cleveland was 
not a soldier, nor wei-e his sympathies with the great cause 
for which the soldiers fought. 



27 



Chapter VII. 



CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 

The President's Promises. 

A DELUSION AND A SHAM UNDER PRESIDENT CLEVELAND'S ADMINIS- 
TRATION — THE president's PROMISES — THE PRESIDENT'S PER- 
FORMANCE. 

Both the Republican and Democratic platforms of 1884 
recognized the growing demand among the people for civilii 

service reform. ; 

1 

The Democratic declaration was : | 

" We favor honest civil service reform." '| 

The Republican declaration was much more explicit, and 
was in these words : 

" Reform of the civil service, auspiciously begun under 
Republican administration, should be completed by the furthei, 
extension of the reform system, already established by law, to 
all the grades of the service to which it is applicable. Thej 
spirit and purpose of the reform should be observed in all- 
executive appointments, and all laws at variance with the 
objects of existing i-eform legislation should be repealed to thf 
end that the dangers to free institutions which lurk in th( 
power of official patronage may be wisely and effectivel) 
avoided." 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 419 

An especial effort was made by Mr. Cleveland, when a can- 
didate for the Presidency, to secure the support of the ardent 
friends of civil service reform. His letter of acceptance con- 
tained these words : 

"When we consider the patronage of this great office, the 
allurements of power, the temptation to retain public places 
once gained, and, more than all, the availability a party finds 
in an incumbent when a horde of office-holders with a zeal 
born of benefits received, and fostered by the hope of favors 
yet to come, stand ready to aid with money and trained politi- 
cal service, we recognize in the eligibility of the President for 
reelection a most serious danger to that calm, deliberate, and 
intelligent political action which must characterize a govern- 
ment by the people. 

" The people pay the wages of the public employes, and 
they are entitled to the fair and honest work which the money 
thus paid should command. It is the duty of those intrusted 
with the management of these affairs to see that such public 
service is forthcoming. The selection and retention of sub- 
ordinates in government employment should depend upon 
their ascertained fitness and the value of their work, and they 
should be neither expected nor allowed to do questionable 
party service. The interests of the people will be better pro- 
tected ; the estimate of public labor and duty will be immensely 
improved ; public employment will be open to all who can 
demonstrate their fitness to enter it. The unseemly scramble 
for place under the government, with the consequent impor- 



420 THE RECORD OF 

tunity which embitters official life, will cease, and the public 
departments will not be filled with those who conceive it to 
be their first duty to aid the party to which they owe their 
places, instead of rendering patient and honest return to the 
people." 

Subsequent to the election, and before his inauguration, on 
December 25, 1884, Mr. Cleveland, in a letter to Mr. George 
William Curtis, used the following language to assure him of 
his good intentions respecting the civil sei-vice. 

His letter was called forth by a letter of Mr. Cm-tis' inquir- 
ing as to the policy the President-elect intended to pursue in 
the matter of removals from office. 

" I am not unmindful of the fact to which you refer, that 
many of our citizens fear that the recent party change in the 
national Executive may demonstrate that the abuses which 
have grown up in the civil service are ineradicable. I know 
that they are deeply rooted, and that the spoils system has been 
supposed to be intimately related to success in the maintenance 
of party organization, and I am not sure that all those who 
profess to be the friends of this reform will stand firmly among 
its advocates when they find it obstructing their way to patron- 
age and place. But fully appreciating the trust committed tc 
my charge, no such consideration shall cause a relaxation or J 
my part of an earnest effort to enforce this law. 

" If I were addressing none but party friends, I should deerr 
it entirely proper to remind them that, though the coming ad | 
ministration is to be Democratic, a due regard for the people'; [ 
interest does not permit faithful party work to be alway 



/,. 



1 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 421 

rewarded by appointment to office ; and to say to them that 
while Democrats may expect all proper consideration, selec- 
tions for office, not embraced within the civil-service rules, will 
be based upon sufficient inquiry as to fitness, instituted by 
those charged with that duty, rather than upon persistent im- 
portunity or self-solicited recommendations on behalf of can- 
didates for appointment." 

In his inaugural address deli\ered March 4, 1S85, the Presi- 
dent makes the following declarations of his views as to reform : 

" The people demand reform in the administration of the 
government and the application of business principles to pub- 
lic affairs. As a means to this end, civil-service reform should 
be in good faith indorsed. Our citizens have the right to pro- 
tection from the incompetency of public employes who hold 
their places solely as the reward of partisan service, and from 
the corrupting influence of those who promise, and the vicious 
methods of those who expect, such rewards ; and those who 
worthily seek employment have the right to insist that merit 
and competency shall be recognized instead of party subservi- 
ency or the surrender of honest political belief." 

The President's first annual message to Congress, of Decem- 
ber 8, 1S85, further discussed the subject as follows: 

" I am inclined to think that there is no sentiment more 
general in the minds of the people of our country than a con- 
viction of the correctness of the principle upon which the law 
enforcing civil service reform is based. 

"Experience in its administration will probably suggest 
amendment of the methods of its execution, but I venture to 



422 THE RECORD OF 

hope that we shall never again be remitted to the system which 
distributes public positions purely as rewards for partisan ser- 
vice. Doubts may well be entertained whether our govern- 
ment could survive the strain of a continuation of this system, 
which upon every change of administration inspires an im- 
mense army of claimants for office to lay siege to the patron- 
age of the government, engrossing the time of public officers 
with their importunities, spreading abroad the contagion of 
their disappointment, and filling the air with the tumult of 
their discontent. 

" The allurements of an immense number of offices and 
places exhibited to the voters of the land, and the promise of 
their bestowal in recognition of partisan activity, debauch the 
suffrage and rob political action of its thoughtful and delibera- 
tive character. The evil would increase with the multiplica- 
tion of offices consequent upon our extension, and the mania 
for office-holding, growing from its indulgence, would pervade 
our population so generally that patriotic purpose, the support 
of principle, the desire for the public good, and solicitude for 
the nation's welfare would be nearly banished from the activ- 
ity of our party contests and cause them to degenerate into 
ignoble, selfish, and disgraceful struggles for the possession of 
office and public place. 

"Civil-service reform enforced by law came none too soon 
to check the progress of demoralization. 

" One of its effects, not enough regarded, is the freedom it 
brings to the political action of those consei^vative and sober 
men who, in fear of the confusion and risk attending an arbi- 
bitrary and sudden change in all the public offices with a 
change of party rule, cast their ballots against such a change." 



I 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
The President's Performance. 



423 



Senator Hale, of Maine, in a speech delivered in the Senate, 
January 11, 18S8, presented the following table, which he de- 
clared " was carefully made up to June ii, 1887, from figures 
furnished by the departments." It shows that at that time the 
President had nearly eflected a " clean sweep " of the offices : 



OFFICES. 



Places filled 
by Cleveland. 



Whole num- 
ber of places. 



Presidential postmasters, (estimated).. . 

Fourth-class, (estimated) 

Foreign ministers 

Secretaries of Legation 

Consuls 

Collectors of customs 

Surveyors of customs 

Naval officers of customs 

Appraisers, all grades 

Superintendents of mints and assayers. 
Assistant treasurers at sub-treasuries. . . 

Collectors of internal revenue 

Inspectors of steam vessels 

District attorneys 

Marshals 

Territorial judges 

Territorial governors 

Pension agents 

Surveyors-general 

Local land officers 

Indian inspectors and special agents. . . 

Indian agents 

Special agents, General Land Office. . . 
Total ... 



a, 000 
40,000 
3a 
16 
"38 
100 

33 
6 

34 
II 

9 

84 
8 
6S 



9 
16 
16 
190 
9 
S> 
79 



42,992 



2359 
52,609 

33 
21 

219 
III 

33 
6 

36 
«3 

9 
8.? 
II 
70 
70 
30 

9 
18 
16 
224 
10 
59 
83 



S6>i34 



424 THE RECORD OF 

And ever since June, 18S7, Mr. Cleveland has been steadily 
appointing Democrats to fill places in the civil service still 
held by Republicans, so that when nominated for reelection at 
St. Louis, very few Republicans remained in office. 

From Senator Hale's speech we extract the following pas- 
sages, still further illustrating the infidelity of Mr. Cleveland to 
the pledges which he gave as candidate and as President: 

" The diflerence between word and deed is clearly shown in 
the case of Secretary Lamar, who took occasion in April last 
to commend John C. Calhoun for his opposition to the spoils 
system, and to congratulate himself upon belonging to an 
Administration that was engaged in carrying out the policy 
that Calhoun advocated. 

"The stern facts are that in the service over which Mr. 
Lamar has presided every territorial governor has been 
removed ; sixteen out of eighteen pension agents ; every single 
surveyor-general ; four-fifths of the local land officers ; nine- 
tenths of the inspectors and special agents of the Indian ser- 
vice ; fifty-one out of fifty-nine Indian agents ; seventy-nine 
out of eighty-three special agents of the General Land Office, 
and more than two-thirds of the special examiners of the Pen- 
sion Office. But Secretary Lamar to-day stands on record as 
against the spoils system and takes high rank as a reformer. 

" If I were not consuming too much time, Mr. President, I 
could select from the figures which are before me other depart- 
ments of the government, not covered by the table which I 
have presented, showing this conquering march of the Demo- 
cratic party in pursuit of the offices. 



I 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 425 

"In all the departments in Washington are found able and 
honest men, who have given their lives to the service of the 
government. They have begun as clerks in the lower grades 
and have been steadily promoted until they have at last reached 
the highest places to which they may reasonably aspire. They 
were found, when the reform Democratic administration came 
into power, as chief clerks and chiefs of divisions. They 
made the eyes and ears of the departments, and, one would 
suppose, should be considered as almost indispensable. In 
the Treasury Department there are seventy-nine chief clerks 
and chiefs of divisions, and up to June, 1S87, sixty-six of these 
seventy-nine had been changed. In not more than a half a 
dozen cases the person appointed was a promoted clerk. The 
introduction into this force was almost entirely from the out- 
side. Every deputy auditor, deputy comptroller, and deputy 
commissioner of internal revenue has been changed. In many 
cases chiefs of divisions have been reduced in grade, and new 
men, from the outside world, of the Democratic party, have 
been appointed. In more than one case the head of a division 
has been reduced to a lower clerkship and the Democratic pol- 
itician has been appointed in his place, and the old incumbent, 
in his reduced grade and at his reduced pay, is performing all 
his old work, and the new incumbent does practically nothing. 
But this is civil service reform. 

" Let us now, Mr. President, turn to the other side of this 
subject of reform in the civil service, that which relates to the 
offensive participation of office-holders in politics. That this 
should not be permitted in any well-regulated civil service 
goes without saying. The President saw this clearly, and his 



426 THE RECORD OF 

utterances in relation to it are as clear and distinct as they were 
upon appointments and removals. 

"I have already quoted from his letter of acceptance, in 
which he deprecated the existence of ' a horde of office-hold- 
ers, with a zeal born of benefit received, and fostered by the 
hope of favors yet to come, who stand ready to aid with 
money and trained political services' the party to which they 
belong. And we have seen further his declarations, after 
assuming his high office, of the things which he believed to 
constitute a true civil service reform, namely : 

" The separation of the offices from politics, the non-participation of 
office-holders in elections and conventions. 

" During the first year of the President's administration, and 
as the time approached for the campaign which preceded the 
State and Congressional elections in 1886, it was discovered 
that things were going on in the Democratic party very much 
after its old fashion. The men in office were ' manipulating 
conventions,'' fixing nominations,' and taking upon themselves 
the conduct of the campaign generally. So apparent was this 
in Maryland, in Indiana, in Kentucky, in New York, in Penn- 
sylvania, and in other contested states, that a voice of com- 
plaint was heard, not from the Democrats, who desired this 
condition of things, nor from the Republicans, who expected 
it, but from the ' Independents,' who had contributed to the 
President's election, and who now were fain to admit that 
matters were not going to suit them. 

"The President was ready, as usual, with letters of assur- 
ances, and with proclamations tending to appease the discon- 
tent of his ' Independent ' allies. 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 427 

" The statute which I have recited in the resolution upon 
which I am speakino^ is definitive and explicit in its terms, and 
its passage by a Republican Congress, and approval by a Re- 
publican President, as I have said, was followed by a complete 
change in the organization of the party, all men holding Fed- 
eral office disappearing from its committees and stafi of polit- 
ical workers. 

" On the fourteenth day of July, 1S86, the President issued 
his famous order from the Executive Mansion in Washington, 
' To the heads of the departments in the service of the gen- 
eral government.' As this whole proclamation has been read 
from the desk of the Secretary, I will not here take up the 
time of the Senate by repeating it. In it the President declares 
that his purpose is ' to warn all subordinates in the several 
departments and all office-holders under the general govern- 
ment, against the use of their official positions in attempts to 
control political movements in their localities.' In it he 
declares that ' office-holders are the agents of the people — ^ 
not their masters.' In it he warns Federal officials against 
' oftending, by a display of obtrusive partisanship, their neigh- 
bors who have relations with them as public officials.' In it 
he declares that ' they have no right as office-holders to dictate 
the political action of their party associates.' In it he declares 
that the duty of the office-holder to his party is ' not increased 
to pernicious activity by office-holding.' 

" These plain declarations of the President form a policy 
under which, if properlv followed, the civil sei"vice of the 
country would indeed be divorced from politics. The Inde- 
pendents felt this and, taking new courage from the Presi- 



428 THE RECORD OF 

dent's declarations, and forgetting how far the performance 
had fallen short of his promises in appointments and removals, 
still clung, in many cases, to the Democratic organization. 

" The Civil Service Commissioners, or at least tw^o of them, 
interpreted the statute in accordance with the President's 
instruction, and this added weight to the executive direction. 
But the leaders and the masses of the Democratic party felt by 
this time that they clearly understood the situation, and at this 
point begins to be clearly marked the change of tone among 
these leaders in their comments upon the President. They 
realized fully that in view of coming elections the party must 
ride two horses ; that the President was to steadily maintain in 
all his public declarations the cause of civil-service reform, 
with the view of retaining the support of the Independents ; 
but that, as in the case of appointments and removals, no real 
obstruction was to be placed in the way of any and every 
office-holder participating, whenever he chose, in caucuses 
and conventions and in the elections which followed. 

" In the Indiana election, in November, 1886, the participa- 
tion of Federal office-holders in the primaries, and subsequently 
in the election, raised a scandal of which papers in that State, 
at the time and afterwards, were full. In the closely-con- 
tested districts these men left their business and their homes, 
and devoted themselves to securing the nomination and election 
of the members to whom they had owed their appointments. 
In the Matson district, in the Holman district, and especially in 
the Fort Wayne district, the intrusion of Federal office-holders 
into every stage of the canvass previous to the nominating con- 
ventions and elections was so otiensive that honest people 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 429 

revolted and defeated the Democratic candidate. Whoever 
will read the testimony offered in the Lowry-White contested- 
election case will find ample proof of this statement. 

"When 1887 came round the President's declarations and 
proclamatious were treated as waste-paper, and the President 
himself seems by this time to have ftillen into such harmony 
with the spirit of his party that he not only acquiesced in this 
wholesale disregard of his previously expressed sentiments and 
directions, but himself joined in the movement. His most 
intimate friends, both in and out of office, took charge of the 
conduct of conventions and elections in the vear which was 
considered as having so close a bearing in its results upon the 
great coming battle of 1888. 

"At the Saratoga meeting of the Democratic state com- 
mittee of New York, when the preliminaries of what then 
looked like the dawning contest between the national adminis- 
tration and the state administration were to be settled. Deputy 
Collector John A. Mason and Second Auditor W^illiam F. 
Creed, of the New York Custom-house, were most prominent 
and active. 

"At the Pennsylvania State convention more than forty of 
the Federal officials of that State appeared to marshal the 
forces of the administration. The names of some of these 
have been furnished me as taken from a Democratic news- 
paper : E. J. Bigler, collector of internal revenue; D. O. 
Barr, sui-v^eyor of the port of Pittsburgh ; McVey and Ryan, 
special treasury agents ; Fletcher, chief clerk in a bureau of 
the Navy Department; Glozier, hull inspector; Guss, oleo- 
margarine inspector ; Chester, Warren, and Bancroft, from the 



43° 



THE RECORD OF 



Philadelphia mint, and many others. In Baltimore the naval 
officer, the appointment clerk, Higgins, and Indian Inspector 
Thomas, Customs Agent Mahon, Postmaster Brown and his 
assistant. United States marshal and deputies, deputy collector 
of internal revenue, and a host of clerks, inspectors, and 
janitors monopolized the direction of the entire campaign. 

" I might go on and give like instances in other states, but 
I leave that to be more fully brought out by the committee 
which I hope will take this matter in charge. 

"Mr. Hawley. — May I make an inquiry .f* 

"Mr. Hale. — Certainly. 

"Mr. Hawley. — Is the Senator certain that these men have 
not been indignantly and virtuously removed ? 

" Mr. Hale. — Not only have I yet to learn of a removal for 
such action, but I have yet to learn of any censure being visited 
upon one of these men. I do not know of a case where the 
President has put his strong hand upon these men and made it 
seen that he meant to perform what he had promised. In fact, so 
gross was the violation of every principle of reform and of the 
President's directions and pledges that even the Evening Post 
declared that ' this playing fast and loose with orders and 
promises, which the President is now permitting among those 
around him, will be used in the campaign with terrible effect.' 
But the President has not hesitated to deal deadly blows at re- 
form with his own hand. A remarkable manifestation of the 
desire of the people for a practical reform in the selection of 
important officers was shown in the city of New York previous 
to the last election. Public suspicion had for a long time 
rested upon officials in the municipal government, and had at 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 431 

last demanded and secured an investigation, which disclosed 
the most corrupt and shocking practices on the part of munici- 
pal officials, implicating them and well-known parties outside 
in extensive schemes involving corruption and bribery. 

"Public indignation, expressed through almost the entire press 
of New York, was aroused, the intervention of the courts was 
sought, and from time to time trials of the accused had pro- 
ceeded in some cases to conviction of the criminals. The 
work was by no means completed, and as the time for the 
election of a district attorney who should represent the State 
and the public in the conduct of these trials came near, a pro- 
nounced and general movement grew up in favor of the selec- 
tion of Mr. Delancy Nicoll, an able and brilliant young Dem- 
ocratic lawyer, who had found thrown upon him, as an assist- 
ant in the district attorney's office, the burden of largely man- 
aging and conducting the hitherto successful prosecution of 
these cases. 

" Nobody claimed that the movement for Mr. Nicoll had its 
origin in any party preference. It came from the people, and 
the demand was taken up by the newspapers. With few 
exceptions the Republican, Democratic, and Independent press 
I . demanded the nomination and election of Mr. Nicoll in the 
interest of reform and good government. He was nominated 
by different independent organizations, indorsed by all of the 
civil-service-reform associations and newspapers, and, although 
a Democrat, accepted generally by the Republicans. 

" Here was a plain, spontaneous, earnest, honest movement 
on the part of the people in the direction of reform. It would 
seem to have been political wit on the part of the Democratic 



432 THE RECORD OF 

managers in New York City to have accepted this movement 
and to have joined in the election of a man who had always 
been a Democrat, but whose character and services were so 
high that good men demanded generally that he should be 
retained in the public service. But, as I have said, long before 
this the Democratic leaders had found that in the practical 
management of politics they were in the saddle, and the nom- 
inating conventions of the two branches of the New York 
Democracy joined in rejecting Mr, Nicoll and in setting up as 
his opponent an old-fashioned, worn, bruised, and battered 
New York City politician, whose personal character was not 
high, and who had been a crony of and a beneficiary at the 
hands of Tweed in the worst days of New York City's cor- 
ruptions. 

" The business men of New York, the Independents, the 
Reformers, and Republicans generally accepted the issue, and 
a contest almost unequaled in intensity and bitterness ensued. 
Here, Senators, was the opportunity for the President not only 
to say but to do something for reform. If, in accordance with 
his declarations in favor of non-interference of Federal office- 
holders in elections, he had, including himself as the head of 
all Federal official life, determined to keep aloof from the con- 
test, he still might in many ways have breathed expressions | 
giving aid and comfort to the men in New York City who 
were fighting against thieves and robbers and bribe-takers and 
bribe-givers in the interest of good government. All of the 
so-called reform element in New York City that had hitherto 
adhered to the President looked to him for some such expres- 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 433 

sion. How bitterly were they disappointed ! The President 
was now completely in the hands of the party-leaders in New 
York, whose stern rule had always been to support regular 
nominations, and to shoot down bolters and deserters. 

" While the contest was at its thickest, and men everywhere 
throughout the country turned their eyes expectantly upon the 
result, and when the battle had become one of national im- 
poi'tance, and when the issues were, seemingly, well nigh 
evenly balanced, a great Tammany Hall ratification meeting 
was held in the interest of Mr. Fellows, the Tammany Hall 
and county Democratic candidate for district attorney in oppo- 

-sition to Mr. Nicoll. I have before me a full report of the 
proceedings of this meeting and of the parties who partici- 

■ pated therein. Their names have not been found upon the 
lists of any civil-service-reform association heretofore made 
known to the public. General John Cochrane called the 
meeting to order. Congressman S. S. Cox presided. State 
Senator Raines, of Monroe, was followed by the candidate, 
Colonel Fellows, and Honorable Charles A. Dana, editor of 
the Sun. Speeches were also made by George Blair and 
Congressman William McAdoo, of New Jersey. The follow- 

V ing letter was read : 

" It will be impossible for me to comply with your courteous invita- 
tion to meet with those who propose to ratify to-morrow evening the 
nomination of the united Democracy. With a hearty wish that every 
candidate on your excellent ticket may be triumphantly elected, 
" I am yours very truly, 

" Grover Cleveland. 



434 THE RECORD OF 

" Of this attitude of the President Mr. Carl Schurz said, 
only a few days later : 

"'What malignant enemy of President Cleveland was it 
that induced Mr. Cooper to extort from him that most unfortu- 
nate letter, intermeddling in New York City politics on the side 
of the typical " dead-beat" ' ? 

"' I shall say nothing in extenuation of the fact that the 
President permitted himself to be so misused. But certain it | 
is that the bitterest enemies of the President and of the Demo- 
cratic party could not have dealt them a more vicious blow. 
For more than thirty years 1 have been an attentive observer of 
political events, and never, never have I witnessed more wan- 
ton recklessness of party leaders, sacrificing the interests andi 
good name of a great municipality, the character of a national 
administration, as well as the interests of their party and 
cause, to their blundering folly or small selfishness.' 

" Mr. Schurz, and Mr. Curtis, and Mr. Dorman B. Eaton, 
and the select body of Independents, who are ranked with 
them in sentiment upon this subject do not enjoy this. Not 
one of these men who possesses ordinary discernment can fail 
to see that the whole course of this administration on this sub- 
ject has been a delusion and a sham. With them the search- 
ing question that each man must put to himself will now be, 
' How long shall I be constrained to minister to and uphold 
this delusion, this sham ? ' 

" The President himself, who, I am bound to believe, is not 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 



435 



a born hypocrite, does not enjoy this condition. His only sat- 
isfaction must be that he is getting more clearly in line with 
his party and its leaders and the sentiments of its masses, and 
that in the time to come he will be called on to make no more 
professions." 

No administration in the history of the government has been 
more distinctly a "spoils" administration than that of GrcA^er 
Cleveland. 

The statesmen of the Republican party recognize the need 
of removing as far as possible the evils of patronage, and the 
Chicago Convention renewed Republican pledges of fidelity 
to the cause of reform in explicit terms. 




^^/3^ 



Chapter VIII. 



THE FISHERIES QJJESTION. 

THE HONOR OF THE REPUBLIC INVOLVED IN THE PROTECTION OF 

THE RIGHTS OF ITS CITIZENS NATIONAL VALUE OF THE FISHING 

INTEREST TREATY OF 1818 CANADA COVETS OUR MARKET 

CANADIAN OUTRAGES — TREATY OF 1854 — TREATY OF WASHING- 
TON — THE FISHERIES AWARD — MORE OUTRAGES THE DISGRACE- 
FUL SURRENDER OF CLEVELAND AND BAYARD TO ENGLAND. 

The Republican National Convention at Chicago declared 
in its platform : 

" We arraign the present Democratic administration for its 
w^eak and unpatriotic treatment of the fisheries question, and 
its pusillanimous surrender of the essential privileges to which 
our fishing vessels are entitled in Canadian ports under the 
treaty of 1818, the reciprocal maritime legislation of 1S30, and 
the comity of nations, and which Canadian fishing vessels 
receive in the ports of the United States. We condemn the 
policy of the present administration and the Democratic major- 
ity in Congress toward our fisheries as unfriendly and conspic- 
uously unpatriotic, and as tending to destroy a valuable 
national industry and an indispensable resource of defence 
against a foreign enemy." 

The fisheries question is perhaps but little understood, 
except by the hardy fishermen of New England whose inter- 
ests are directly involved. But the honor of the Republic is 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 437 

involved when the rights of any of its citizens are in peril or 
in dispute ; and the preservation of our fishing interests is 
vitally connected^with the defense of the country in time ot 
war. Senator Frye, of Maine, declares : 

"If we have another war, it will be on the ocean. Who 
will man our ships? Eighty-five per cent, of the sailors on 
ships in the foreign trade are foreigners, owing the Republic 
no allegiance, willing to render her no service. These fisher- 
men are eighty per cent. American citizens, sixty-five per cent. 
American birth ; inured to hardship, constantly exposed to 
the perils of the sea, brave, skillful, patriotic, they would 
respond to a man to the bugle-call of the country. Why 
should not the Republic stand by them when they are in peril, 
when they are suffering wrong at the hands of a foreign 
power ? " 

England spares no effort, counts no cost, when the liberty 
or the rights of her subjects are in danger, but her military and 
naval power is instantly put forth to its utmost to protect the 
humblest man who may rightfully claim the protection of her 
flag. If an American administration has been neglectful of 
the honor of our flag and the rights of our citizens, it is cause 
for the popular condemnation of that administration. What 
is the fisheries question .'' It concerns the right of fishermen 
of the United States to fish in the waters of the ocean, and 
near the shore of the northeastern part of the Dominion of 
Canada, and the right of American fishermen to resort for 
shelter, to repair damages, to purchase wood and take water, 
nd for other commercial privileges, to the bays, harbors, and 



438 THE RECORD OF 

ports of Canada. The New England colonies, under the flag 
of England, wrested from France the possession of the Cana- 
dian provinces, and our people before the Revolution had 
equal rights and equal enjoyment with Canadians in the fish- 
eries along the shores of the maritime provinces ; and after the 
Revolution we continued in the enjoyment of the fisheries in 
the Northeastern waters down to i Si 8. In 1818 a treaty was 
^ made between the United States and England, which some- 
what restricted our fishery rights. 

Article I. of the treaty of 1818 contained this provision : 

" And the United States hereby renounce forever any liberty 
heretofore enjoyed or claimed by the inhabitants thereof, to 
take, dry, or cure fish on or within three marine miles of any 
of the coasts, bays, creeks, or harbors of His Britannic 
Majesty's dominions in America, not included within the 
above mentioned limits." 

And there was a proviso that our fishermen might enter these 
bays, etc., for shelter or to repair damages, to purchase wood 
and take water, but for no other purpose whatever. 

It has ever been a source of regret in the United States that 
our government consented to any restriction of our right in 
these fisheries, which were acquired by the blood of our 
fathers. We should at least be disposed on every occasion to 
insist upon a liberal construction of the treaty of 1S18, and 
especially should we resist any attempt by means of forced and 
unreasonable interpretations to deprive us of any of the rights 
preserved to us by the terms of the treaty. 

As time wore on and the market of the United States be- 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 439 

came valuable, Canada desii-ed above all things to enter our 
market, and in order to drive us to admit her into our market, 
she permitted her people to commit many outrages upon our 
fishermen. " She drove our vessels to sea in storms, when 
they had sought shelter, seized and searched them on the high 
seas, even ; placed armed men on board, practically making 
captives of their captains and crews in their own vessels, the 
American flag flying over them ; tried them in the colonial 
courts on the testimony of colonial witnesses, and confiscated 
one after another ; and this went on until, indeed, the perils of 
the sea on these Grand Banks were no greater than the dangers 
of the law on the shore." 

Presidents Van Buren and Pierce sent fleets to protect our 
fishermen, but as soon as our war vessels were withdrawn the 
outrages were resumed. Finally England sent a fleet, and 
extorted from a Democratic administration in 1S54 a treaty 
known as the Reciprocity Treaty, under which we were per- 
mitted to fish within these Northeastern waters, Canadian 
fishermen in our waters, and free entry to our market for 
Canadian fish was granted. Canada had obtained all'she 
wanted. At the end of twelve years the United States abro- 
gated the treaty of 1854, *^he sentiment in this country being 
strongly against the treaty. Canada then imposed heavy taxes 
upon our vessels, for the privilege of fishing in her waters. 

In 1S71 the treaty of Washington was made between Eng- 
land and the United States. This treaty, made primarily for 
the purpose of settling the " Alabaftia Claims," included, also, 
the question of the fisheries. The Canadians were committing 



440 THE RECORD OF 

outrages again. The treaty provided for the free entry of fish 
into our market, and gave to us the privilege of the Canadian 
fisheries, and an arbitration w^as provided to determine whether 
any sum of money should be paid by the United States for the 
enjoyment of the fisheries during the term of twelve years 
fixed by the treaty, in addition to the consideration given in 
admitting Canadian fish to our market free of duty. England 
over-reached us in the selection of the umpire, and secured a 
prejudiced tribunal, and an award of $5,500,000 was made 
against the United States. The award was grossly unfair, the 
fact being that the duties remitted amounted to more than the 
value of the fisheries. We paid the award, but not without 
plain speaking in Congress. 

James G. Blaine, then in the Senate, exposed on the floor 
of the Senate the chicane by which we had been beaten in the 
arbitration. As soon as the terms of the treaty permitted, the 
United States abrogated it, and on July i, 1SS5, we again had 
no treaty for the fisheries, except that of 18 18. 

Republican statesmen maintain that the honorable and pru- 
dent course for us to have then adopted was to negotiate no 
more treaties, unless one to abrogate the treaty of iSiS, but to 
stand upon our rights under the treaty of iSiS, and to main- 
tain those rights with all the power of the Republic, insisting 
at the same time that general commercial privileges, including 
the right to purchase supplies at any time and to tranship 
cargoes in Canadian ports should be granted to our fishermen ; 
and that if such privileges were denied us, we should retaliate 
by denying similar privileges to Canadian vessels of all sorts 
in our ports, which privileges we have always held ourselves 
bound to grant by the comity of nations. 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 441 

But President Cleveland, at the solicitation of the British 

j Minister, sent a message to Congress recommending that it 

provide for a commission to settle the fishery rights. The 

Senate passed a resolution declaring that such a commission 

ought not to be provided for bv Congress. 

I t 

■I The suggestion of the President was an extraordinarv one 
I. V . . -^ ' 

in view of the fact that the treaty-making power is vested in 

the President and Senate alone. 

The Canadians now recommenced their outrages upon our 
fishermen. 

Senator Frye, in a speech before the Senate on the 29th of 
May, 1888, thus describes some of these outrages : 

"Now, in this open session, addressing the people as well 
as the Senate, I feel it necessary to reproduce a few of the out- 
rages committed by Canada on our fishermen. I am not cer- 
tain that if Senators on this side of the Chamber listen to the 
recitals once more they will feel conscience-stricken and vote 
to reject the treaty. They would have done it then. Now, 
see what Canada was doing to us in 1886. In the month of 
July, as the American schooners Shiloh and Julia Ellen were 
entering the harbor of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, the Canadian 
cruiser Terror^ Captain Qiiigley, fired a gun across her bows, 
to hasten their coming to, and placed an armed guard on board 

. each vessel, which remained there until the vessels left the har- 
bor ; and that was when they were more than four miles from 

1 the shore, and under no pretense whatever of fishing. Seventy- 
five years ago, if that had not been apologized for, there would 
have been a declaration of war. 



442 THE RECORD OF 

"More than four miles from shoi-e an armed guai'd put on 
board, our captain and our sailors made prisoners of war on 
an American vessel with the American flag at the masthead. 

" The schooner Rattler^ of Boston, fully laden and on the 
voyage home, sought shelter from stress of weather in Shel- 
burne Harbor, Nova Scotia, was compelled to report at the 
custom house and have a guard of armed men kept on board, 
there being no suspicion that she was intending to fish within 
the three-mile shore-line. Sixty million people, a great, mag- 
nificent Republic, and a little country of 5,000,000 people 
putting an armed guard on board under the American flag 
without any suspicion of any violation of the law ! 

"In August the Mollie Adams ^ of Gloucester, on the home- 
ward voyage, full laden with fish from the fishing banks, was 
compelled to put into Port Mulgrave for water, and duly made 
report and entry at the custom house. The water tank had 
bursted on the voyage by reason of heavy weather. The 
captain asked leave to purchase two or three barrels to hold a 
supply of water for the crew on their homeward voyage of 
about three hundred miles. The application was refused and 
his vessel threatened with seizure if barrels were purchased. 
In consequence the vessel was compelled to put to sea with an 
insufficient supply of water, and in trying to make some other 
port to obtain a supply, encountered a severe gale, which 
swept away a deck-load of fish and destroyed two seine boats. 

" Is any comment necessary.? If that vessel under the same 
circumstances had penetrated any part of the waters of the 
Fiji Islands, would they have refused her a tank of water.? 

" Again, in July the schooner A. R. Crittenden^ of Glou- 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 443 

cester, on the homeward voyage from the open-sea fishing- 
ground, while passing through the Strait of Canso, stopped at 
Steep Creek for water. The customs otficer at that phicc 
boarded the vessel and notified the captain that if he took in 
water his vessel would be seized. He was compelled to sail 
without obtaining the needed supply, and to put his crew on 
short allowance during the homeward voyage, notwithstanding 
the treaty of 181S gave him a clear right to take water, and 
notwithstanding the dear Lord has given us all the right to 
take water — 'a cup of cold water.' Driven to sea because 
the poor fellow wanted water ! 

" In October the collector at Shelburne, Nova Scotia, re- 
fused to allow Captain Rose, of the steamer Laura Sayward^ 
to buy sufficient food for himself and crew to take them home, 
and retained his papers unnecessarily, thus compelling him to 
put to sea with an inadequate supply of provisions. The crew 
was put on half rations. Why, you may go to one of the 
islands off the coast of China and say to those half-civilized 
people, ' I am out of food, give me something to appease my 
hunger,' and you would not expect to find men barbarous 
enough there, or anywhere else in the wide world, to refuse. 
Yet these men were compelled to put to sea on short allow- 
ance. 

"In October Captain Tupper, of the schooner ye»«/<? Sea- 
verns^ of Gloucester, was prevented by Captain Qin'gley, of the 
Canadian cutter Terror, from landing to visit his relatives in Liv- 
erpool, Nova Scotia. His relatives were forbidden to go on board 
his vessel by Captain Quigley, and an armed guard was placed 
on board to insure that he should not see his relatives, nor they 



444 THE RECORD OF 

him, making him practically a prisoner on his own vessel with 
the American flag floating at its masthead. No charge that he 
was fishing, no charge that he was violating the law. 

"Now take the Novelty. vShe is a fishing steamer I should 
say of about two-hundred tons burden. vShe had been out to 
the Banks fishing. She came into Canadian waters, not to fish 
there. Her coal fell short ; she went in to purchase ; the officer 
refused to allow her to do so ; the captain appealed to the terms 
of the treaty; the reply was, 'the treaty said "wood," not 
" coal." ' And they would not let him have any coal. He ap- 
pealed to the authorities in Ottawa, to whom a right of appeal 
is reserved in this wonderful treaty now under consideration, 
and the authorities at Ottawa replied that the treaty said ' wood,' 
and ' you cannot have coal.' They threatened seizure, and the 
captain went home, giving up his trip entirely. Wood, not 
coal ! There was not a vessel sailed the sea in 1818 that did 
not use wood, and hardly a vessel sails to-day that does. 
Fishermen do not use wood ; they all use coal ; and yet be- 
cause the treaty of 1S18 said 'wood' they could not buy any 
other kind of fuel ; and in this treaty which the President has 
sent here to the Senate, and heralded as generous and equitable, 
our commissioners have left ' wood ' to stand, and to-day, not- 
withstanding everybody uses coal, no one can get any in the 
Dominion of Canada for his fishing vessel. They might have 
obtained that concession for fuel, one would have supposed, 

"Take the case of the Caroline Vought. She was a fish- 
ing schooner from Boothbay, Maine, In August, being on 
mackerel grounds, short of water, she ran into the port of 
Paspebiac, New Brunswick. A government steamer or cruiser 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 445 

was there. Captain Raid, ordered on board, stated his neces- 
sities, was directed to leave at once on penalty of seizure. 
Fortunately a storm came on and he caught sufficient rain- 
water to save his crew from death. He carried the American 
flag. 

" Now, take another case, and this is a very remarkable one, 
that of the Mollie Ada7ns, commanded by Captain Solomon 
Jacobs. When oft'Mal Peque, Prince Edward's Island, in a 
heavy blow she fell in with the Canadian schooner Neskelita 
in distress. The Mollie Adams had her full load of fish. She 
stopped as humanity demanded ; she rescued seventeen men 
from the British schooner, took them on board, placed what 
material on the schooner that she could save for them, what 
clothing they could, and sailed for a Canadian port. She was 
three days about this humane work, feeding seventeen men, 
British, besides her own. Captain Jacobs then ran into the 
hai'bor of Mai Peque. The captain of the Canadian cruiser 
Critic^ which was lying there, boarded the Adams^ and was 
informed of the facts of the wreck and the condition of the 
crew. He refused to lend any assistance Vvhatever. 

" Captain Jacobs asked permission to land some of the 
wrecked material he had on board, but was refused by the cap- 
tain of the cruiser, who told him if he did so he would seize, 
him. None of the people on the shore would take the wrecked 
crew. They were still on Captain Jacobs' hands. Captain 
Jacobs finally took from his own pocket sixty dollars and gave 
it to the crew to get home with. 

"But there is a bar in Mai Peque where a vessel drawing 
over fourteen feet of water cannot pass. Captain Jacob's 



446 THE RECORD OF 

vessel drew fourteen feet, and he was compelled to lay there 
some eight or ten days, until a tide would come that should be 
sufficient to float his vessel over. The result was that when 
the opportunity came for Captain Jacobs to sail, he had not a 
pound of flour on his vessel. These British sailors had eaten 
it all up. He put into Port Medway, and asked permission of 
the collector to purchase half a barrel of flour, or enough pro- 
visions to take his vessel and crew home. This was absolutely 
refused, and the collector threatened to seize his vessel if he pur- 
chased anything whatever. Captain Jacobs left without 
obtaining anything, went home a distance of 300 miles, on 
short rations, and the last day he had not a single thing on his 
vessel for his crew to eat. 

'' In the nineteenth century, nineteen hundred years, almost, 
after our dear Lord was born, by a country that claims to be 
civilized and Christianized, this terrible act of inhumanity was 
committed, and committed for but a single purpose, to get our 
markets and free fish ; and the Senator from Alabama may 
wish to give it to them under stress like that. 

" One more case. I am not citing these cases because I 
think the Senators on the other side have never heard of them. 
I am citing them because I wish the American people to weigh 
your treaty with the threats and the outrageous acts which pro- 
duced it. Take the Marion Grimes. In October the Ameri- 
can vessel Marion Grimes., of Gloucester, Massachusetts, 
Captain Landry, put into Port Shelburne in a terrible gale, 
anchored in the outer port ; anchored in the first place she had 
safety in, six or eight miles from the custom-house port, with- 
out the slightest intention of going into that. She laid there 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 447 

nearly the whole night. The storm abated. She hoisted her 
sails and started out for sea, when Captain Qu'gley of the 
cruiser Terror, fired a shot across her bows, brought her to, 
went on board, took possession of her, and told her that she 
must go to port, make entry, and report. He took her six 
miles out of her way, when she had not been within three 
miles of the shore, and Captain Qiiigley knew that she was in 
there to escape the storm, and for no other purpose whatever. 
He told them that if she did not go in and report and enter, 
she would be fined four hundred dollars. She was fined four 
hundred dollars as it was, and the money was deposited to pay 
the fine. 

" Mr. Payne. — It was remitted afterwards by the court In 
Canada. 

"Mr. Frye. — I doubt it. I do not know. 

"Mr. Gray. — Yes, it was. 

" Mr. Payne. — Most of them have been remitted. 

"Mr. Frye. — No, sir; most of them have not been re- 
mitted. 

"Mr. Payne. — I hope the Senator will be fair when he 
states these cases. He omits to state that the several acts were 
not committed by the direct authority of the Government of 
Canada, and that when they were brought before the Council 
of Canada, in ever}' instance, they were either apologized for 
or remitted, so that the government was not responsible for 
any act of outrage, except under the general custom laws. 

" Mr. Frye. — There is not a case that I have here that the 
Government of Canada is not responsible for, and there is 
only one that she has ever apologized for. 



448 THE RECORD OF 

" Mr. Payne. — We shall see. 

"Mr. Frye. — We shall see about it. I know the facts j 
about as well as the Senator from Ohio. I am pretty familiar ; j .^ 
with them. 

" The Marion Grimes was fined four hundred dollars. 
This fine was imposed by the urgency of Captain Quigley, of 
the 1 error, and Captain Landry was informed that he would 
be detained at the port of Shelburne until a deposit to meet it 
was made. 

"While the vessel was in the custody of Captain Quigley, 
Captain Landry hoisted the American flag, hoisted it on an 
American vessel, — on his own — as he had a right to do, and 
Captain Quigley ordered this American citizen to haul it down. 

"Mr. Payne. — Please follow it up. ■] 

"Mr. Frye. — Do not interrupt me now. I decline to be , 
interrupted. . 

Mr. Payne. — That is not fair. \ 

Mr. Frye. — Captain Quigley ordered the American flag 
hauled down, and it was hauled down. Then, shortly after- 
wards, when Captain Landry was ready to sail, he hoisted the 
American flag once more on that American ship, as he had a 
right to do, and Captain Quigley came on board and with an 
oath took the halyards in his own hand, hauled down your 
flag, and you to-day, sir, are apologizing for him in the United 
States Senate. 

Mr. Payne. — That is not true. 

Mr. Frye. — The Senator wants me to say that an apology 
was made for that. A weak apology, readily accepted by a 
waak Administration, was made, but Captain Quigley kept his 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 449 

office as captain of the ship. He sailed afterwards through 
those waters and seized vessels as he met them bearing the 
American flag. Seventy-five years ago, if Captain Qiiigley 
had not been been immediately displaced by his government, 
there would have been a declaration of war. We made the 
the declaration of war in 181 2 for no offense that was any 
greater than that. They seized our vessels, I admit ; they 
searched them and took our sailors ; but they seized this ves- 
sel without right of law, and they tore down with their own 
hands the emblem of the sovereignty of a republic of sixty 
million people." 

Congress passed a law authorizing the President to retaliate 
by forbidding Canadian vessels to come into our ports, and if 
necessary, by terminating all commercial relations with Can- 
ada. Instead of employing the powers given him by Con- 
gress, or in an}' way protecting the rights of our fishermen. 
President Cleveland appointed plenipotentiaries to negotiate 
another treaty upon the fisheries. These representatives of 
the United States met the representatives of England and pro- 
ceeded to agree to a treaty which completely surrenders the 
rights and interests of our fishermen. 

Senator Frye denounced this treaty in the Senate as "the 
most disgraceful, humiliating, and cowardly surrender the 
American Republic has ever been called upon to submit to, 
not excepting the treaty of 1S18." This treaty deals first with 
the question of defining the right of our fishermen to fish in 
the waters along the Canadian coast, under the treaty of 181 8. 
The treaty of 1818 preserves to us the right to fish, but not 
" within three marine miles of any of the coasts, bays," etc. 
29 



450 THE RECORD OF : 

The English have in the past advanced a theory that the 
three miles was to be measured from " headland to headland " 
of the bays. But England never strenuously insisted upon 
this theory, and the United States always refused to tolerate 
any such construction. But strangely enough, this treaty 
which Mr. Bayard entered into and Mr. Cleveland sent to the 
Senate provides that the three marine miles mentioned in arti- 
cle I. of the convention of October 20, iSiS, shall be meas- 
ured seaward from low- water mark ; but at every bay, creek, 
or harbor, not otherwise specially provided for in this treaty, 
such three marine miles shall be measured seaward from a 
straight line drawn across the bay, creek, or harbor, in the part 
nearest the entrance at the first point where the width does not 
exceed ten marine miles. 

The treaty further provides that if the market of the United 
States is thrown open to Canadian fish duty free, commercial 
privileges shall be granted to our fishermen in Canadian ports. 
The treaty simply enlarges the danger of our fishermen being 
subjected to seizure and confiscation unless all that is asked 
for by Canada, namely, the market of the United States, be con- 
ceded. England and Canada virtually dictated terms to the 
Cleveland administration. 

After a long and acrimonious discussion, the Senate, in 
August of the present year, rejected the treaty. The Repub- 
licans voted unanimously against it, while the Democrats voted 
as solidly in its favor. 

The ^vhole tone of the Democratic debate and of the voice 
of the Democratic press was to the effect that the Nation 
ought not to permit itself to be embroiled for the sake of the 
interests of a few fishermen in New England. 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 451 

But no sooner was the ti-eaty rejected than President Cleve- 
land gave evidence that he recognized the weakness of his 
position and the discredit which was likely to attach to his 
administration. 

He immediately sent to Congress a special message in which 
he seemingly sought to " out-Herod Herod " in the vigor with 
which he denounced the Canadian outrages. Professing, how- 
ever, to consider that he ought to have from Congress more 
definite instructions as to what particular measure of retalia- 
tion to adopt, he recommended that authority be given to retal- 
iate by stopping the transport in bond over the railroads of the 
United States of merchandise in transit to Canada from Europe. 
Tliis method of retaliation, while calculated to inflict injury 
upon Canada, is one sure, also, to severely damage our own 
railroad interests. 

Congress had already pointed out the true method of retali- 
ation, namely : the denial of commercial privileges to Canadian 
vessels in our ports. Such moderate application of the prin- 
ciples of retributive justice, together with the vigorous pre- 
sentment of our claims for damages would probably be suffi- 
cient to secure from the British Government reparation for the 
past and security for the future. 

The bellicose message of President Cleveland appears, even 
to many of the supporters of the President, as designed 
merely as a move on the chess board of politics ; and is one of 
the most extraordinary acts of an administration destined to 
take rank as one of the least honorable or successful in the his- 
tory of the government. 



Chapter IX. 



THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION. 

ONE GREAT ISSUE AT A TIME — PROHIBITION NOT THE ISSUE THE 

REPUBLICAN PARTY THE TRUE REFORM PARTY — THE DEMOCRAT- 
IC PARTY HOSTILE TO TEMPERANCE MEASURES THE PROHIBI- 
TION PARTY A HINDRANCE TO REFORM. 

When the authority of the constitution shall have been vin- 
dicated, and the suppression of suffrage ended in the southern 
section of the Republic ; when the industrial future of the 
Nation shall have been settled upon the sure foundation of 
the protective system in its complete development, the Ameri- 
can people will enter upon an epoch when the public problems 
considered will be chiefly social in their character. Among 
the social questions already long pondered and made the sub- 
ject of legislation, but still unsettled, is the question how 
most wisely to deal with the traffic in intoxicating liquors. 
This question is coming into larger prominence. The im- 
petuous zeal of earnest men and women deeply interested in 
the temperance question has sought to thrust it forward as a 
political issue, prematurely, and so as to put in peril the dear- 
est rights of man and the most important of material interests. 
Appeal ought to be made to the patriotism and the foresight of 
these citizens, whose public spirit and whose devotion to duty 
no one can question, to forbear hurrying forward this new 
political issue until the public mind, released from prior occu- 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 453 

pation, turns instinctively and naturally to the discussion and 
settlement of this leading social question. A great party, em- 
bodying the majority of the progressive forces of the Nation, 
and charged with the duty of leading in the advance move- 
ment, cannot permit itself to be diverted from great tasks first 
undertaken and not yet discharged — the army w^hich comprises 
at once thj forces of both conservatism and of reform should 
not divide to its death. A little later and nothing will remain 
for discussion in the forum of politics save social questions, and 
the temperance question will be well to the front A century 
crowJe:! with material progress draws to its close. The 
twentieth century — promising to be one of moral grandeur 
hitherto unequaled — is soon to open. It may safely be pre- 
dicted that before that century opens this long-vexed problem 
of how best to regulate and restrain the sale of intoxicating 
liquors will hav^e been finally solved by the American people 
and solved in such manner that there will be a great decrease 
in the consumption of intoxicating liquors by our people, with 
a corresponding diminution of the evils and burdens of intem- 
perance. The evils and burdens resulting from the general use 
and abuse of intoxicating liquors are in truth enormous. If 
the expenditure for alcoholic drinks in the United States 
amounts, as has been estimated, to more than nine hundred 
millions of dollars annually — a sum greater than that of the 
combined annual earnings of all the railroads in the country — 
the burdens directly and indirectly resulting must be very great. 
Now it cannot be too strongly emphasized that the too general 
and excessive use of intoxicating liquors can most eftectua.ly 
and satisfactorily be done away with through the moral cleva- 



454 THE RECORD OF 

tion of the masses, to be chiefly accomplished by the regener- 
ating and strengthening influences of religion and education. 
The church and school and home are now, as in the early days, 
the props of the Nation's power. Everything, too, that gives 
heart and hope and prosperity to labor will powerfully aid in 
stimulating the manlier virtues into life and strength. There 
has of late been too great a reliance upon law and too little 
upon educational and religious work. Saying this and em- 
phasizing it, we ought not to understate the importance of a 
sound legal method for dealing with the common sale of in- 
toxicating liquors. This is properly a political question, as 
well as a moral one. In our time most moral questions are 
political ones. The state should have a fixed policy on this 
subject, and that policy should strongly favor the interests of 
the home rather than those of the saloon. Public sentiment is 
deeply moved on this question. In the face of the adoption of 
constitutional prohibition in Maine by an enormous popular 
majority after trial of statutory prohibition for a generation ; 
the adoption of the same policy in Kansas and in Iowa by 
popular majorities ; the three-fifths vote in Rhode Island for the 
prohibitory amendment of the constitution, and the adoption 
of a prohibition constitution by the coming new State of South 
Dakota, it is impossible to deny the great strength of the 
movement for constitutional prohibition ; and in the states of 
Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, and Tennessee, prohibition, although 
defeated, was supported at the polls by a minority so strong 
numerically, and embodying so large a proportion of the prop- 
erty and intelligence of those states, as to give signal proof ot 
the coming power of the temperance sentiment of the Nation. 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 455 

In Ohio, however, this sentiment has since the defeat of consti- 
tutional prohibition, found legislative expression in a system of 
taxation and regulation w^hich seems to be the best presently 
attainable system for that state. Illinois, Nebraska, Missouri, 
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey have 
passed high li'cense laws which contain many restrictive pro- 
visions calculated to lessen the number of saloons and bring 
this dangerous business under control. The Republican party 
in all these states has adopted the policy of favoring the home 
against the saloon, and has sought to enact as strong temper- 
ance measures as there was reason to believe public sentiment 
would sustain. In doing so it has bravely run the risk of de- 
feat at the hands of the liquor interest. It has not been behind 
public sentiment, but somewhat in advance, or, to speak more 
correctly, it has enacted temperance measures which public 
sentiment sustains, but which endanger Republican ascendency 
because Temperance Democrats continue voting with their 
party, while some Republicans are alienated. It is to temper- 
ance legislation rather than to free trade that Republican loss 
in Minnesota and Michigan is to be ascribed. In Ohio moder- 
ate temperance legislation for a season threw the Republicans 
out of power, but the tide turned soon in their favor and 
brought them back into control more firmly resolved than ever 
to persist in a temperance policy. The best hope for temper- 
ance legislation in the future is that Temperance Democrats will 
finally come to the Republicans and join them in maintaining 
such a policy as befits a Christian American commonwealth. 
The Democratic party in every state in the North has con- 
stantly opposed every measure looking either to the submission 



456 THE RECORD OF 

of constitutional amendments or the enactment of temperance 
legislation. A national prohibition party is a worse than use- 
less organization of forces that are needed where they would 
be most effectual. Whether a uniform policy in all the states 
to be imposed by national authority is essential to the success 
of the movement against the saloon, is a question which only a 
small portion of the people are ready even to consider. An 
amendment of the constitution is required before national pro- 
hibition can be enacted. 

Such an amendment can only be submitted by the concur- 
rence of two-thirds of each house of Congress, and can only be 
ratified by the consent of three-fourths of the states. 

National prohibition or restraint of the liquor traffic, except 
through taxation, involves a more radical application of national 
ideas than any yet made in the legislation of the Republic. 

Without enteiing, prematurely, upon a discussion of the 
wisdom of the policy of national prohibition, this is to be said : 
that advocates of that policy ought to see the necessity of aiding 
by their votes the restoration of the power and prestige of the 
great historic party which is the exponent of the national idea, 
to the final ascendency of which they must look for the fulfill- 
ment of their hopes. The National Prohibition party has 
succeeded already in putting the national government under the 
control of the extreme advocates of state rights, and unless bet- 
ter counsels prevail, may be destined to give perpetual control 
to the reactionary party which is hostile to all legislation in 
restraint of the liquor traffic. The particular amendment of 
the national constitution sought by the Prohibition party is not . 
the measure most easy of attainment. A more practical prop- 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 457 

osition would be one that merely proposed extending the juris- 
diction of Congress to the subject of the liquor traffic, thus 
placing that subject on the same footing as bankruptcy and the 
conduct of congressional elections. Under such an amended 
constitution Congress would be free to deal with this question 
when and in such manner as public opinion, finally crystal- 
lizing, might dictate. The demand now urged that the states 
put prohibition in the fundamental law of the Republic, is 
impractical in the last degree. In the course of the famous 
debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in 
1858, Mr. Douglas deprecated " uniformity in all things local 
and domestic, by the authority of the federal government," 
saying: " But when you attain that uniformity you will have 
converted these sovereign, independent states into one consoli- 
dated empire with the uniformity of despotism reigning tri- 
umphant throughout the length and breadth of the land." 

Mr. Lincoln in reply said : "I do not believe in the right of 
Illinois to interfere with the cranberry laws of Indiana, the 
oyster laws of Virginia, or the liquor laws of Maine." So that 
the opinion of the sagacious Lincoln — Whig, Republican, 
and Nationalist as he was — at that time concurred with that 
of the greatest and most patriotic leader of the Democratic 
party since Andrew Jackson, that any attempt, by means of 
national authority, by one state to dictate the liquor laws of 
another is alien to the spirit of our government. Mr. Lincoln 
held views almost as conservative upon the question of slavery, 
but he lived to proclaim emancipation. Since 1S58 the Repub- 
lican party has advanced very far in its appreciation of the 
demands of our national life, and when the reactionary tide 



458 THE RECORD OF 

which has rolled in recedes, new applications of the national 
idea will be made. Whether the liquor traffic will be brought 
within the field of national politics, and whether, if it is, the 
public mind will advance to the radical plan of prohibition, the 
future will unfold. But the Prohibition Republicans, once as 
radical as any in their devotion to the equal suffrage of the 
colored race, should realize that until the authority of the Nation 
has proved itself equal to the duty of protecting the freedom of 
elections against open violence, it is unwise to urge the under- 
taking of the task of enforcing a prohibitory liquor law upon 
unwilling states. 

In the course of his debate with Douglas, Mr. Lincoln enun- 
ciated and emphasized one idea which should take possession 
of the people on the temperance issue. Denying that he was 
an abolitionist, Mr. Lincoln said: " I think the opponents of 
slavery will resist the further spread of it and place it where 
the public mind shall rest with the belief that it is in course of 
ultimate extinction." 

The extreme abolitionists of that day were not satisfied with 
the position.of Mr. Lincoln or the Republican party on the 
slavery question, and with scorn and bitterness refused their 
cooperation to the Republican organization. But the good 
sense of practical men recognized in the Republican party an 
agency that was sure to place slavery in a position where it 
would be in course of ultimate extinction. The extreme 
abolitionists of 1S56 and i860 find their parallel to-day in the 
Prohibitionists. 

The third-party Prohibitionists are to-day doing greater 
injury to the cause of temperance than to the liquor traffic. 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 459 

They insist that the prohibition issue shall have immediate 
consideration to the exclusion of the tariff' question. This 
demand is impracticable, and cannot be heeded. The tariff' 
question comes before the people inevitably for settlement. If 
there had been no St. John vote in New York in 18S4, Mr. 
Blaine would have been elected, the tariff' revised in accordance 
with the protective principle, the interests of education in the 
South provided for, and by 1888 the temperance question 
would have been a leading" issue in politics. A vote for the 
Prohibition ticket in 18SS is a vote to delay the real considera- 
tion of the temperance question. 

Instead of the feeble Abolition party (which, by diverting 
Whig vojtes from Clay to Birney in 1844, gave the country to 
the Democrats,) waxing stronger until it finally ascended to 
power, the truth of history is that the Abolition organization 
died out and its unconstitutional and impracticable proposi- 
tions were abandoned, while it was reserved for the Republi- 
can party rising up, not to abolish, but to restrict the spread of 
slavei'y, to give universal freedom to the Nation. 

The Prohibition party of St. John and of Fisk is analagous 
to the Abolition party of Birney, while the Republican party is 
tending rapidly in the same path of practical reform on the 
liquor question that brought it into power on the slavery issue. 



Chapter X. 

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM FOR i 

The Republicans of the United States, assembled by their 
delegates in National Convention, pause on the threshold of 
their proceedings to honor the memory of their first great 
leader, the immortal champion of liberty and the rights of the 
people — Abraham Lincoln; and to cover also with wreaths 
of imperishable remembrance and gratitude the heroic names 
of our late leaders who have more recently been called away j^i 
from our councils — Grant, Garfield, Arthur, Logan, Conkling. 
May their memories be fiiithfully cherished ! « 

We also recall with our greetings, and with prayer for his 
recovery, the name of one of our living heroes, whose memory 
will be treasured in the history both of Republicans and of the 
Republic — the name of that noble soldier and favorite child 
of victory, Philip H. Sheridan. 

In the spirit of those great leaders, and of our own devotion 
to human liberty, and with that hostility to all forms of despot- 
ism and oppression which is the fundamental idea of the Re- 
publican Partv, we send fraternal congratulation to our fellow- 
Americans of Brazil upon their great act of emancipation, 
which completes the abolition of slavery throughout the two 
American continents. 

We earnestly hope that we may soon congratulate our fellow 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 461 

citizens of Irish birth upon the peaceful recovery of Home 
Rule for Irehmd. 

We reaffirm our unswerving devotion to the National Con- 
stitution, and the indissoluble union of the States; to the au- 
tonomy reserved to the States under the Constitution ; to the 
personal rights and liberties of citizens in all the states and 
territories in the Union, and especially to the supreme and 
sovereign right of every lawful citizen, rich or poor, native or 
foreign born, white or black, to cast one free ballot in public 
elections, and to have that ballot duly counted. We hold the 
free and honest popular ballot, and the just and equal repre- 
sentation of all the people, to be the foundation of our repub- 
lican government, and demand effective legislation to secure 
the integrity and purity of elections, which are the fountains 
of public authority. We charge that the present Administra- 
tion and the Democratic majority in Congress owe their exist- 
ence to the suppression of the ballot by a criminal nullification 
of the Constitution and laws of the United States. 

We are uncompromisingly in favor of the American system 
of protection ; we protest against its destruction as proposed 
by the President and his party. They serve the interests of 
Europe ; we will support the interests of America. We accept 
the issue, and confidently appeal to the people for their judg- 
ment. The protective system must be maintained. Its aban- 
donment has always been followed by general disaster to all 
interests, except those of the usurer and the sheriff'. We de- 
nounce the Mills Bill as destructive to the general business, 
the labor and the farming interests of the country, and we 



462 THE RECORD OF 

heartily indorse the consistent and patriotic action of the Re- 
publican representatives in Congress in opposing its passage. 

We condemn the proposition of the Democratic party to 
place wool on the free list, and we insist that the duties thereon 
shall be adjusted and maintained so as to furnish full and ade- 
quate protection to that industry throughout the United States. 

The Republican party would effect all needed reduction of 
the national revenue, by repealing the taxes upon tobacco, 
which are an annoyance and burden to agriculture, and the 
tax upon spirits used in the arts and for mechanical purposes ; 
and by such revision of the tariff laws as will tend to check 
imports of such articles as are produced by our people, the 
production of which gives employment to our labor, and release 
from import duties those articles of foreign production (except 
luxuries), the like of which cannot be produced at home. If 
there shall still remain a larger revenue than is requisite for the 
wants of the governinent, we favor the entire repeal of internal 
taxes rather than the surrender of any part of our protective 
system at the joint behests of the whiskey trusts and the agents 
of foreign manufacturers. 

We declare our hostility to the introduction into this country 
of foreign contract labor and of Chinese labor, alien to our civ- 
ilization and Constitution, and we demand the rigid enforce- 
ment of the existing laws against it, and favor such immediate 
legislation as will exclude such labor from our shores. 

We declare our opposition to all combinations of capital or- 
ganized in trusts or otherwise to control arbitrarily the condi- 
tion of trade among our citizens, and we recommend to Con- 
gress and the state legislatures in their respective jurisdictions, 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 463 

such legislation as will prevent the execution of all schemes to 
oppress the people by undue charges on their supplies, or by 
unjust rates for the transportation of their products to market. 
We approve the legislation by Congress to prevent alike unjust 
burdens and unfair discriminations between the states. 

We reaffirm the policy of appropriating the public lands of 
the United States to be homesteads for American citizens and 
settlers — not aliens — which the Republican party established 
in 1S62, against the persistent opposition of the Democrats in 
Congress, and which has bi'ought our great western domain 
into such magnificent development. The restoration of un- 
earned railroad land grants to the public domain for the use of 
settlers, which was begun under the administration of Presi- 
dent Arthur, should be continued. We deny that the Demo- 
cratic party has ever i-estored one acre to the people, but de- 
clare that by the joint action of Republicans and Democrats in 
Congress, about 50,000,000 of acres of unearned lands origin- 
ally granted for the construction of railroads have been restored 
to the public domain, in pursuance of the conditions inserted 
by the Republican party in the original grants. We charge 
the Democratic administration with failure to execute the laws 
securing to settlers titles to their homesteads, and with using 
appropriations made for that purpose to harass innocent set- 
tlers with spies and prosecutions under the false pretense of 
exposing frauds and vindicating the law. 

The government by Congress of the territories is based upon 
necessity, only to the end that they may become states in the 
Union ; therefore, whenever the conditions of population, ma- 
terial resources, public intelligence and morality are such as to 



464 THE RECORD OF 

insure a stable local government therein, the people of such 
territories should be permitted as a right inherent in them to 
form for themselves constitutions and state governments and 
be admitted into the Union. Pending the preparation for 
statehood, all officers thereof should be selected from the bona 
Jide residents and citizens of the territory wherein they are to 
serve. South Dakota should of right be immediately admitted 
as a state in the Union, under the' constitution framed and 
adopted by her people, and we heartily indorse the act of the 
Republican Senate in twice passing bills for her admission. 
The refusal of the Democratic House of Representatives, for 
partisan purposes, to favorably consider these bills, is a willful 
violation of the sacred American principle of local self govern- 
ment, and merits the condemnation of all just men. The 
pending bills in the Senate to enable the people of Washing- 
ton, North Dakota, and Montana Territories to form constitu- 
tions and establish state governments should be passed without 
unnecessary delay. The Republican party pledges itself to do 
all in its power to facilitate the admission of the Territories of 
New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho, and Arizona to the enjoyment 
of self government as states, such of them as are now qualified, 
as soon as possible, and the others as soon as they may be- 
come so. 

The political power of the Mormon Church in the territories, 
as exercised in the past, is a menace to free institutions, a dan- 
ger no longer to be suffered. Therefore we pledge the Re- 
publican party to appropriate legislation asserting the sover- 
eignty of the Nation in all territories where the same is 
questioned, and in furtherance of that end, to place upon the 



I 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 465 

statute books legislation stringent enough to divorce the polit- 
ical from the ecclesiastical power, and thus stamp out the at- 
tendant wickedness of polygamy. 

The Republican party is in favor of the use of both gold and 
silver as money, and condemns the policy of the Democratic 
administration in its efforts so demonetize silver. 

We demand the reduction of letter postage to one cent per 
ounce. 

In a republic like ours, where the citizen is the sovereign, 
and the official the servant ; where no power is exercised except 
by the will of the people, it is important that the sovereign — 
the people — should possess intelligence. The free school is 
the promoter of that intelligence, which is to preserve us as a 
free nation ; therefore the state or nation, or both combined, 
should support free institutions of learning, sufficient to afibrd 
every child growing in the land the opportunity of a good 
common-school education. 

The first concern of all good governitient is the virtue and 
sobriety of the 2:)eople, and the purity of the home. The 
Republican party cordially sympathizes with all wise and well- 
directed efforts for the promotion of temperance and morality. 

We earnestly recommend that prompt action be taken by 
Congress on the enactment of such legislation as will best se- 
cure the rehabilitation of our American merchant marine, and 
we protest against the passage by Congress of a free-ship bill, 
as calculated to work injustice to labor by lessening the wages ■ 
of those engaged in preparing materials, as well as those di- 
rectly employed in our ship-yards. We demand appropria- 
tions for the early rebuilding of our navy ; for the construction 

30 



466 THE RECORD OF | 

of coast fortifications and modern ordnance, and other ap- 
proved modern means of defense for the protection of our 
defenseless harbors and cities ; for the payment of just pensions 
to our soldiers ; for necessary works of national importance in 
the improvement of harbors, and the channels of internal, 
coastwise, and foreign commerce ; for the encouragement of 
the shipping interests of the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific States, 
as well as for the payment of the maturing public debt. This 
policy will give employment to our labor, activity to our vari- 
ous industries, increase the security of our country, promote 
trade, open new and direct markets for our produce, and 
cheapen the cost of transportation. We afhrm this to be far 
better for our country than the Democratic policy of loaning 
the Government's money, without interest, to "pet banks." 

The conduct of foreign affairs by the present Administra- 
tion has been distinguished by its inefficiency and cowardice. 
Having withdrawn from the Senate all pending treaties ef- 
fected by the Republican administrations for the removal of 
foreign burdens and restrictions upon our commerce, and for 
its extension into better markets, it has neither effected nor ^ 
proposed any others in their stead. Professing adherence to 
the Monroe doctrine, it has seen, with idle complacency, the 
extension of foreign influence in Central America, and of for- 
eign trade everywhere among our neighbors. It has refused 
to charter, sanction, or encourage any American organization 
for constructing the Nicaragua Canal, a work of vital import- 
ance to the maintenance of the Monroe doctrine, and of our 
national influence in Central and South America, and neces- 
sary for the development of trade with our Pacific territory, 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 467 

with South America, and with the islands and further coasts 
of the Pacific Ocean. 

We arraign the present Democratic Administration for its 
weak and unpatriotic treatment of the fisheries question, and 
its pusillanimous surrender of the essential privileges to which 
our fishing-vessels are entitled in Canadian ports under the 
treaty of 1S18, the reciprocal maritime legislation of 1S30, 
and the comity of nations, and which Canadian fishing-vessels 
receive in the ports of the United States. We condemn the 
policy of the present Administration and the Democratic major- 
ity in Congress toward our fisheries as unfriendly and conspic- 
uously unpatriotic, and as tending to destroy a valuable indus- 
try, and an indispensable source of defense against a foreign 
enemy. 

The name of American applies alike to all citizens of the 
Republic, and imposes upon all alike the same obligation of 
obedience to the laws. At the same time that citizenship is 
and must be the panoply and safeguard of him who wears it, 
and protect him, whether high or low, rich or poor, in all his 
civil rights, it should and must aflbrd him protection at home, 
and follow and protect him abroad, in whatever land he may 
be on a lawful errand. 

The men who abandoned the Republican party in 1884 and 
continue to adhere to the Democratic party, have deserted not 
only the cause of honest government, of sound finance, of free- 
dom or purity of the ballot, but especially have deserted the 
cause of reform in the civil sei-vice. We will not fail to keep 
our pledges because they have broken theirs, or because their 
candidate has broken his. We therefore repeat our declara- 



468 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 

tion of 1S84, to wit: "The reform of the civil service auspic- 
iously begun under the Republican administration should be 
completed by the further extension of the reform system already 
established by law, to all the grades of the service to which it 
is applicable. The spirit and purpose of the reform should be 
observed in all executive appointments and all laws at variance 
with the object of existing reform legislation should be repealed, 
to the end that the dangers to free institutions which lurk in 
the power of official patronage may be wisely and effectively 
avoided." 

The gratitude of the nation to the defenders of the Union 
cannot be measured by laws. The legislation of Congress 
should conform to the pledges made by a loyal people, and be 
so enlarged and extended as to provide against the possibility 
that any man who honorably wore the Federal uniform shall 
become an inmate of an almshouse or dependent upon private 
charitv. In the presence of an overflowing treasury it would 
be a public scandal to do less for those whose valorous service 
preserved the government. We denounce the hostile spirit 
shown by President Cleveland in his numerous vetoes of meas- 
ures for pension relief, and the action of the Democratic rep- 
resentatives in refusing even a consideration of general pen- 
sion legislation. 

In support of the principles herewith enunciated we invite 
the cooperation of patriotic men of all parties, and especially 
of all workingmen, whose prosperity is seriously threatened 
by the free trade policy of the present administration, 



Chapter XI. 

GENERAL HARRISON'S LETTER OF 
ACCEPTANCE. 

IxDiAXAPOLis, IxD., September ii, i888. 
To the Hon. M. M. Estee and Others, Co7nmittee: 

Gentlemen : When your committee visited me on the 
Fourth of July last and presented the official announcement of 
my nomination for the Presidency of the United States bv the 
Republican Convention, I promised as soon as practicable to 
communicate to you a more formal acceptance of the nomina- 
tion. Since that time the work of receiving and addressing 
almost daily large delegations of my fellow-citizens has not 
only occupietl all of my time, but has in some measure ren- 
dered it unnecessary for me to use this letter as a medium oT 
communicating to the public my views upon the questions in- 
volved in the campaign. I appreciate very highly the confi- 
dence and respect manifested by the convention, and accept 
the nomination with a feeling of gratitude and a full sense of 
the responsibilities which accompany it. 

It is a matter of congratulation that the declarations of the 
Chicago Convention upon the questions that now attract the 
attention of our people are so clear and emphatic. There is 
further cause of congratulation in the fact that the convention 
utterances of the Democratic party, if in any degree uncertain 



470 THE RECORD OF 

or contradictory, can now be judged and interpreted by Exe- 
cutive acts and messages, and by definite propositions in legis- 
lation. This is especially true of what is popularly known as 
the tariff' question. The issue cannot now be obscure. It is 
not a contest between schedules, but between wide apart pi-in- 
ciples. The foreign competitors of our market have, with 
quick instinct, seen how one issue of this contest may bring 
them advantage, and our own people are not so dull as to miss 
or neglect the grave interests that are involved in them. The 
assault upon our protective system is open and defiant. Pro- 
tection is assailed as unconstitutional in law, or as vicious in 
principle, and those who hold such views sincerely cannot 
stop short of an absolute elimination from our tariff' laws of the 
principle of j^rotection. 

The Mills Bill a Step Toward Free Trade. 

The Mills Bill is only a step, but it is toward an object that 
the leaders of the Democratic thought and legislation have 
clearly in mind. 

The important question is not so much the length of the 
step, as the direction of it. Judged by the Executive message 
of December last, by the Mills Bill, by the debates in Con- 
gress, and by the St. Louis platform, the Democratic party 
will, if supported by the country, place the tariff' laws upon a 
purely revenue basis. This is practical free trade — free trade 
in the English sense. The legend upon the banner may not 
be " free trade"; it maybe the more obscure motto " tariff 
reform," but neither the banner nor the inscription is conclu- 
sive, or, indeed, very important. The assault itself is the im- 
portant fact. 



I 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 471 

Those who teach that the import duty upon foreign goods 
sold in our market is paid by the consumer, and that the price 
of the domestic competing article is enhanced to the amount 
of the duty on the imported article ; that every million of 
dollars collected for customs duties represents many millions 
more which do not reach the Treasury, but are paid by our 
citizens as the increased cost of domestic productions resulting 
from the tariff laws — may not intend to discredit in the minds 
of others our system of levying duties on competing foreign 
products, but it is clearly already discredited in their own. 
We cannot doubt, without impugning their integrity, that if 
free to act upon their convictions they would so revise our laws 
as to lay the burden of the customs revenue upon articles that 
are not produced in this country, and to place upon the free 
list all competing foreign products. 

I do not stop to refute this theory as to the effect of our tariff' 
duties. Those who advance it are students of maxims and not 
of the markets. They may be safely allowed to call their pro- 
ject " tariff' reform " if the peoele understand that in the end 
the argument compels free trade in all competing products. 
This end may not be reached abruptly, and its approach may 
be accompanied with some expressions of sympathy for our 
protected industries and our working people, but it will cer- 
tainly come, if these early steps do not arouse the people to 
effective resistance. 

The Republicnn party holds that a protective tariff' is consti- 
tutional, wholesome and necessary. We do not oft'er a fixed 
schedule, but a principle. W^e will revise the schedule, mod- 
ify rates, but always with an intelligent prevision as to the 



472 THE RECORD OF 

effect upon domestic production and the wages of our working 
people. We believe it to be one of the worthy objects of tariff 
legislation to preserve the American market for American pro- 
ducers, and to maintain the American scale of wages, by ade- 
quate discriminating duties upon foreign competing products. 
The effect of lower rates and larger importations upon the 
publfc revenue is contingent and doubtful, but not so the effect 
upon American production and American wages. 

Less Work and Lower Wages Inevitable. 

Less work and lower wages must be accepted as the inevit- 
able result of the increased offering of foreign goods in our 
market. By way of recompense for this reduction in his 
wages, and the loss of the American market, it is suggested that 
the diminished wages of the workingman will have an undi- 
minished purchasing power, and that he will be able to make 
up for the loss of the home market by an enlarged foreign 
market. Our workingmen have the settlement of the question 
in their own hands. They now obtain higher wages and live 
more comfortably than those of any other country. They will 
make choice between the substantial advantages they have in 
hand and the deceptive promises and forecasts of those theo- 
rizing reformers. They will decide for themselves and for the 
country whetlier the protective system shall be continued or 
destroyed . 

The fact of a treasury surplus, the amount of which is vari- 
ously stated, has directed public attention to a consideration of 
the methods by which the national income may best be re- 
duced to the level of a wise and necessary expenditure. This 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 473 

condition has been seized upon by those who are hostile to 
protective custom duties as an advantageous base of attack 
upon our tariff laws. They have magnified and nursed the 
surplus, which they affect to deprecate, seemingly for the pur- 
pose of exaggerating the evil in order to reconcile the people 
to the extreme remedy they propose. A proper reduction uf 
the revenue does not necessitate and should not suggest the 
abandonment or impairment of the protective system. The 
methods suggested by our convention will not need to be ex- 
hausted in order to effect the necessary reduction. We are not 
likely to be called upon, I think, to make a present choice be- 
tween the surrender of our protective system and the entire 
repeal of the internal taxes. Such a contingency, in view of 
the present relation of expenditure to revenue, is remote. The 
inspection and regulation of the manufacture and sale of oleo- 
margarine is important, and the revenue derived from it is not 
so great that the repeal of the law need enter into any plan of 
revenue reduction. The surplus now in the treasury should 
be used in the purchase of bonds. The law authorizes this 
use of it, and if not needed for current or deficiency appropria- 
tions, the people, and not the banks in which it has been de- 
posited, should have the advantage of its use by stopping inter- 
est upon the public debt. At least, those who needlessly 
hoard it should not be allowed to use the fear of a monetary 
stringency, thus produced, to coerce public sentiment upon 
other questions. 

The Importation of Contract Labor. 
Closely connected witli the subject of the tariff is that oi the 
importation of foreign laborers under contracts of service to be 



474 THE RECORD OF 

performed here. The law now in force prohibiting such con- 
tracts received my cordial support in the Senate, and such 
amendments as may be found necessary eflectively to deliver 
our workingmen and women from this most inequitable form 
of competition will have my sincere advocacy. Legislation 
prohibiting the importation of laborers under contracts to serve 
here will, however, afford very inadequate relief to our work- 
ing people if the system of protective duties is broken down. 
If the products of American shops must compete in the Amer- 
ican market, without favoring duties, with the products of 
cheap foreign labor, the effect will be different, if at all, only 
in degree, whether the cheap laborer is across the street or 
over the sea. Such competition will soon reduce wages here 
to the level of those abroad, and when that condition is reached 
we will not need any laws forbidding the importation of labor- 
ers under contract — they will have no inducement to come, 
and the employer no inducement to send for them. 

In the earlier years of our history, public agencies to pro- 
mote immigration were common. The pioneer wanted a neigh- 
bor with more friendly instincts than the Indian. Labor was 
scarce and fully employed. But the day of the immigration 
bureau has gone by. While our doors will continue to be 
open to jDroper immigration, we do not need to issue special 
invitations to the inhabitants of other countries to come to our 
shores or to share our citizenship. Indeed, the necessity of 
some inspection and limitation is obvious. We should reso- 
lutely refuse to permit foreign governments to send their pau- 
pers and criminals to ovn^ ports. 

We are also clearly under a duty to defend our civilization 
by excluding alien races whose ultimate assimilation with our 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 475 

people is neither possible nor desirable. The family has been 
the nucleus of our best immigration, ant. the home the most 
potent assimilating force in our civilization. The objections 
to Chinese immigration are distinctive and conclusive, and are 
now^ so generally accepted as such that the question has passed 
entirely beyond the stage of argument. The laws relating to 
this subject would, if I should be charged with their enforce- 
ment, be faithfully executed. Such amendments or further 
legislation as may be necessary and proper to prevent evasion 
of the laws and to stop further Chinese immigration would also 
meet my approval. The expression of the convention upon 
this subject is in entire harmony with my views. 

Plain Words about Election Frauds. 
Our civil compact is a government by majorities ; and the 
law loses its sanction and the magistrate our respect, when 
this compact is broken. The evil results of election frauds do 
not expend themselves upon the voters who are robbed of their 
rightful influence in public affairs. The individual, or com- 
munity, or party, that practices or connives at election frauds 
has suffered irreparable injury, and will sooner or later realize 
that to exchange the American system of majority rule for 
minority control is not only unlawful and unpatriotic, but very 
unsafe for those who promote it. The disfranchisement of a 
single legal elector by fraud or intimidation, is a crime too 
grave to be regarded lightly. The right of every qualified 
elector to cast one free ballot and to have it honestly counted 
must not be questioned. Every constitutional power should 
be used to make this right secure, and punish frauds upon the 
ballot. 



476 THE RECORD OF 

Our colored people do not ask special legislation in their in- 
terest, but only to be made secure in the common rights of 
American citizenship. They will, however, naturally mis- 
trust the sincerity of those party leaders who appeal to their 
race for support only in those localities where the suffrage is 
free and election results doubtful, and compass their dis- 
franchisement where their votes would be controlling and their 
choice cannot be coerced. 

The Nation, not less than the states, is dependent for pros- 
perity and security upon the intelligence and morality of the 
people. This common interest very early suggested national 
aid in the establishment and endowment of schools and col- 
leges in the new states. There is, I believe, a present exigency 
that calls for still more liberal and direct appropriations in aid 
of common school education in the states. 

The territorial form of government is a temporary expedient, 
not a permanent civil condition. It is adapted to the exigency 
that suggested it, but becomes inadequate, and even oppres- 
sive, vv'hen applied to fixed and populous communities. Sev- 
eral territories are well able to bear the burdens and discharge 
the duties of free commonwealths in the American Union. 
To exclude them is to deny the just rights of their people, and 
may well excite their indignant protest. No question of the 
political preference of the people of a territory should close 
against them the hospitable door which has opened to two- 
thirds of the existing states. But admission should be reso- 
lutely refused to any territory, a majority of whose people 
cherish institutions that are repugnant to our civilization or in- 
consistent with a republican form of govermnent. 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 477 

Against all Akbitrarv Combixatioxs. 
The declaration of the convention against "■ all combinations 
of capital, organized in trusts or otherwise, to control arbitrarily 
the condition of trade among our citizens," is in harmony with 
the views entertained and publicly expressed by me long be- 
fore the assembling of the convention. Ordinarily, capital 
shares the losses of idleness with labor, but under the opera- 
tion of the trust, in some of its forms, the wage-worker alone 
suffers loss, while idle capital receives its dividends from a 
trust fund. Producers who refuse to join the combination are 
destroyed, and competition as an element of prices is elimina- 
ted. It cannot be doubted that the legislative authority should 
and will find a method of dealing foirly and effectively with 
these and other abuses connected with this subject. 

It can hardly be necessary for me to say that I am heartily in 
sympathy with the declaration of the convention ujDon the sub- 
ject of pensions to our soldiers and sailors. What thev gave 
and what they suffered, I had some opportunit}' to observe, and 
in a small measure to experience. They gave ungrudgingly ; 
it was not a trade, but an ofteriiig. The measure was heaped 
up, running over. What they achieved, onl}^ a distant gener- 
ation can adequately tell. Without attempting to discuss 
particular propositions, I may add that measures in behalf of 
the sun'iving veterans of the war, and of the families of their 
dead comrades, should be conceived and executed in a spirit of 
justice and of the most grateful liberality, and that, in the com- 
petition for civil appointment, honorable military service 
should have appropriate recognition. 

The law regulating appointments to the classified civil-ser- 



47S THE RECORD OF 

vice received my support in the Senate, in the belief that it 
opened the way to a much-needed reform. I still think so, 
and therefore, cordially approve the clear and forcible expres- 
sion of the convention upon this subject. The law should 
have the aid of a friendly interpretation, and be faithfully and 
vigorously enforced. All appointments under it should be 
absolutely free from partisan considerations and influence. 
Some extensions of the classified list are practicable and de- 
sirable, and further legislation extending the reform to other 
branches of the service, to which it is applicable, would re- 
ceive my approval. In appointments to every grade and 
department, fitness, and not party service, should be the 
essential and discriminating test, and fidelity and efliciency the 
only sure tenure of office. Only the interests of the pub- 
lic service should suggest removals from oflice. I know the 
practical difficulties attending the attempt to apply the spirit of 
the civil-service rules to all appointments and removals. It 
will, however, be my sincere purpose, if elected, to advance 
the reform. 

I notice with pleasure that the convention did not omit to 
express its solicitude for the promotion of virtue and temper- 
ance among our people. The Republican party has always 
been friendly to every thing that tended to make the home life 
of our people free, pure, and prosperous, and will in the future 
be true to its history in this respect. 

A Dignified and Firm Foreign Policy. 

Our relations with foreign powers should be characterized 
by friendliness and respect. The right of our people and of 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 479 

our ships to hospitable treatment should be insisted upon with 
dignity and firmness. Our Nation is too great, both in ma- 
terial strength and in moral power, to indulge in bluster or to 
be suspected of timorousness. Vacillation and inconsistency 
are as incompatible with successful diplomacy as they are with 
the national dignity. We should especially cultivate and ex- 
tend our diplomatic and commercial relations with the Central 
and South American States. Our fisheries should be fostered 
and protected. The hardships and risks that are the necessary 
incidents of the business should not be increased by an inhos- 
pitable exclusion from the near-lying ports. The resources of 
a firm, dignified, and consistent diplomacy are undoubtedly 
equal to the prompt and peaceful solution of the difficulties 
that now exist. Our neighbors will surely not expect in our 
port a commercial hospitality they deny to us in theirs. 

I cannot extend this letter by a special reference to other 
subjects upon which the convention gave an expression. In 
respect to them, as well as to those I have noticed, I am in entire 
agreement with the declarations of the convention. The reso- 
lutions relating to the coinage, to the rebuilding of the navy, 
to coast defenses, and to public lands, express conclusions to 
all of which I gave my support in the Senate. 

Inviting a calm and thoughtful consideration of these public 
questions, we submit them to the people. Their intelligent 
patriotism and the good Providence that made and has kept us 
a Nation, will lead them to wise and safe conclusions. 
Very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

Benjamin Harrison. 



I 



The Popular Vote for President in 1884. 





1o 


11 




■2 V 




il 
Si 


Electoral 
Vote. 




1 

8 


1 


Alabama 


92.973 
73,927 
89,2?8 
27,603 
67,182 
16,976 
81,769 
94,653 
312,584 
244,992 
•177,316 
90,132 
152,961 
62,546 
61,656 
96,866 
122,352 
•189,361 
70,063 
76,510 
235,985 
•54,391 
5,578 
39,187 
127,778 
563,048 
142,952 
368,286 
24,604 
392,785 
12,391 
69.764 
133.2''0 
223,679 
17,331 
145,497 
67,317 
146,459 


59,144 

60,895 

102,416 

36,166 

65,898 

13,053 

28,031 

47,692 

337,411 

238.480 

197,089 

154,406 

118,122 

46,347 

71,716 

85,748 

146,724 

192,669 

111,685 

43,509 

t202,929 

76,903 

7,193 

<3,250 

123,366 

562,001 

125,0158 

400.082 

26.860 

473,804 

19.030 

21.733 

124,090 

91,701 

39.514 

1.39.366 

t63,096 

161,157 


610 

■■■2,926 

762 

2,494 

64 

72 

168 

12,005 

3,028 

1,472 

4,954 

3,139 

338 

2,143 

2,827 

9,925 

18,403 

4,684 

2,153 

2,899 

i;57i 

6,153 
25,001 

4.54 
11,269 

49" 
15,737 

928 


762 
1,847 
2,017 
1,961 
1,685 
10 

■■■'135 
10,849 
8,293 


33,829 
22,0:^2 

'1,^84 
b,923 
3,738 
46,961 

■■■6,512 


■■l'3',i28 
8,663 

....... 

'24,827 

■■l9,773 
64,274 

'■2O.666 

■24',372 
3,3C8 
41.620 

*22"5i2 
1,615 
4,063 

■31,796 
2,256 
81,019 
6,639 

■22',i83 
■■i4',698 


10 

7 

■ 6 
8 
4 
12 

■■15 

"13 

8 

■■'8 

'"9 
16 

■■■9 

S6 
11 

■■■9 
I'J 
13 

"ii 

6 








California 


8 


Connecticut 




Florida 








Illinois 


m 






Iowa 


13 


Kansas 


16",'34i 

1,693 

120 

8,994 

678 

24,382 

753 

8,683 

'■ "W 

662 

3,456 

17,002 

■■5,176 

726 

17,«0-2 

422 


■ 's'4'839 
16,199 

■ n'iis 
■s3',66i 

33,059 

■"4,4i2 
1,047 
17,884 

"isMi 

9,180 
131,978 

■■6,i4i 

4,221 


9 












A 






Massachusetts 


13 


Minnesota 


7 










Nebraska 


5 


Nevada 

New Hampshire 


3 

4 






North Carolina 

Ohio 


"?.h 


Oregon 


n 




30 




4 


South Carolina 






1,151 

3,508 

1,752 

138 

939 

7,656 


957 
3,321 

785 

■■■■805 
4,598 




5 Texas 




Vermont 


4 


West Virginia 


■'ii 






Total 


4,911,017 
62,683 

48.87 


4,848,334 
48.26 


151,809 
1.51 


133,825 
1.33 


469,389 


406,706 


219 


182 


Cleveland's pluralitj 
Percent 





The total popular vote for President in 1884 was 10,6(37,610 ; the tota* 
electoral vote was 401. 



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